Which to use
“cools” is a verb and “cross” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,099
- “cools” frequency rank
- #1,073
- “cross” frequency rank
- 28172
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cools | cross |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of cool | A geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other. |
Where the eye mixes cools and cross
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cools and cross
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cools is /kuːlz/ while cross is /kɹɒs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cools is recorded at frequency rank #27,099, classified as averb, pronounced /kuːlz/. cross is at rank #1,073, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɒs/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 28172, this pair ranks #373,176 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cools vs cross
Shared letters: cos. Private to "cools": l. Private to "cross": r.
"cools" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "cross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cools" and "cross" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "cools" or "cross" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cools" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cross" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #373,176 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cools" and "cross" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coms vs cools". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #373,176 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.