cuntsvscupsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,798
“cunts” frequency rank
#5,952
“cups” frequency rank
24750
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cunts cups
Definition plural of cunt plural of cup

Where the eye mixes cunts and cups

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cunts
4 ch
cups

Visual trap between cunts and cups

A purely visual mix-up. cunts (/kʌnts/) and cups (/kʌps/) 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 24750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cunts is recorded at frequency rank #18,798, classified as anoun, pronounced /kʌnts/. cups is at rank #5,952, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kʌps/.

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 24750, this pair ranks #399,595 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cunts vs cups

Shared letters: csu. Private to "cunts": nt. Private to "cups": p.

"cunts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "cups" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuntsccunts · cnuts · cunnts · cunst · cuntss · cuntts · cutns · ucnts
  • cupsccups · cpus · cupps · cupss · ucps

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cunts" for "cups" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kʌnts/ versus /kʌps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cunts" or "cups"?
"cups" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,952 in our English list, against #18,798 for "cunts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cunts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cups" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #399,595 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cunts" and "cups" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cunts vs cuny". 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 #399,595 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list