Which to use
“cos” and “cuts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,553
- “cos” frequency rank
- #3,477
- “cuts” frequency rank
- 10030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cos | cuts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Synonym of romaine lettuce, a long-leaved variety of lettuce. | plural of cut |
Where the eye mixes cos and cuts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cos with cuts
A purely visual mix-up. cos (/kɑs/) and cuts (/kʌts/) 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 10030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cos is recorded at frequency rank #6,553, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɑs/. cuts is at rank #3,477, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kʌts/.
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 10030, this pair ranks #494,388 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cos vs cuts
Shared letters: cs. Private to "cos": o. Private to "cuts": tu.
"cos" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "cuts" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cuts ← ccuts · ctus · cust · cutss · cutts · ucts
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cos" and "cuts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "cos" or "cuts" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cos" and "cuts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cuts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #494,388 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cos" and "cuts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs cos". 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 #494,388 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.