Which to use
“costs” and “CSS” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,163
- “costs” frequency rank
- #16,676
- “CSS” frequency rank
- 17839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | costs | CSS |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of cost | Initialism of change segment status, a GDS code used on older types of airline keyboards. |
Where the eye mixes costs and CSS
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between costs and CSS
A purely visual mix-up. costs (/ˈkɔsts/) and CSS (/siː ɛs ˈɛs/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
costs is recorded at frequency rank #1,163, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔsts/. CSS is at rank #16,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced /siː ɛs ˈɛs/.
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 17839, this pair ranks #448,805 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of costs vs CSS
Shared letters: cs. Private to "costs": ot. Private to "CSS": -.
"costs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "CSS" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- costs ← ccosts · cossts · costss · costts · cotss · csots · ocsts
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "costs" and "CSS" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "costs" or "CSS"?
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 "costs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "CSS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #448,805 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "costs" and "CSS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs CSS". 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 #448,805 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.