cornicevscorrieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cornice” and “corrie” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,295
“cornice” frequency rank
#37,398
“corrie” frequency rank
82693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cornice corrie
Definition A horizontal architectural element of a building, projecting forward from the main walls, originally used as a means of directing rainwater away from the building's walls. A bowl-shaped geographical feature formed by glaciation.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cornice and corrie apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
cornice
6 ch
corrie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cornice (/ˈkɔːnɪs/) and corrie (/ˈkɒɹi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cornice is recorded at frequency rank #45,295, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔːnɪs/. corrie is at rank #37,398, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒɹi/.

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 82693, this pair ranks #15,250 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cornice vs corrie

Shared letters: ceior. Private to "cornice": n. Private to "corrie": -.

"cornice" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "corrie" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corniceccornice · conrice · corince · corncie · cornicce · corniec · cornnice · corrnice
  • corrieccorrie · corie · corire · correi · crorie · ocrrie

Frequency comparison

cornice#45,295
corrie#37,398

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cornice" and "corrie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɔːnɪs/ versus /ˈkɒɹi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cornice" or "corrie"?
"corrie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,398 in our English list, against #45,295 for "cornice". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cornice vs corrie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cornice” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list