cop vs cos, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cop” is a verb and “cos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,804
“cop” frequency rank: #6,553
“cos” frequency rank: 10357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cop	cos
Definition	to capture or arrest someone	Synonym of romaine lettuce, a long-leaved variety of lettuce.

Where the eye mixes cop and cos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

cop

3 ch

cos

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cop is /kɒp/ while cos is /kɑs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - p in “cop” becomes s in “cos”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cop is recorded at frequency rank #3,804, classified as averb, pronounced /kɒp/. cos is at rank #6,553, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɑs/.

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 10357, this pair ranks #492,746 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cop vs cos

Shared letters: co. Private to "cop": p. Private to "cos": s.

"cop" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "cos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cop" and "cos" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cop" is a verb and "cos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cop" or "cos"?

"cop" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,804 in our English list, against #6,553 for "cos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "cop" and "cos". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "cop" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "cos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #492,746 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"cop" and "cos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs cos". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.