coq

\kɔk\

/\kɔk\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“coq” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #8,980) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#8,980
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Genre d’oiseau de l’ordre des galliformes et de la famille des phasianidés, comprenant quatre espèces habitant les forêts humides du sud de l’Asie, de l’Inde jusqu’à l’Indonésie, au dimorphisme sex...

Corpus desk

Index FR-coq · coq · French

coq · rank #8,980 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,980
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH contrer

Nearest frequency peer: contrer (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “coq”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “coq” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

coq vs CV
0% similar
coq vs Ct
0% similar
coq vs CP
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for coq
PropertyValue
Headwordcoq
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔk\
Letters3
Frequency rank#8,980
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “coq” se place dans la fréquence du français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.coqse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « contrer » (#8,979), « cérémonies » (#8,981), « construits » (#8,978). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for coq is neighbouring look-alikes ("CV", "Ct", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \kɔk\. Frequency #8,980 among 8,609 “C” headwords. 10 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for coq, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CV", "Ct", "CP", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is coq, spelled C-O-Q.

Definition

  1. 1
    Genre d’oiseau de l’ordre des galliformes et de la famille des phasianidés, comprenant quatre espèces habitant les forêts humides du sud de l’Asie, de l’Inde jusqu’à l’Indonésie, au dimorphisme sexuel extrêmement prononcé, et dont une espèce, le coq doré (Gallus gallus) est l’ancêtre universel du coq domestique de basse-cour.
  2. 2
    Mâle de la poule.
  3. 3
    Ce même animal cuisiné.
  4. 4
    Mâle de la perdrix et de quelques autres oiseaux.
  5. 5
    Personne dont le comportement se veut séducteur par de la suffisance.
  6. 6
    Figure de coq située sur la pointe des clochers des églises, et servant de girouette.
  7. 7
    Pièce d'un louis.
  8. 8
    Sorte d’ustensile ovoïde qui servait au repassage des fronces et des bouillonnés.
  9. 9
    Synonyme d’apogon, genre de poisson.
  10. 10
    Petite platine vidée et gravée qui couvrait le balancier dans les montres ; sorte de pièce de laiton fixée à la platine de derrière, pour suspendre le pendule des horloges.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how coq appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Des familles de poules se promenaient devant leurs maisons, et, de place en place, un coq noir au cou luisant levait sa tête coiffée de pourpre, battait des ailes, et jetait au vent son chant de cuivre que répétaient les autres coqs.
  2. Le chant des coqs, l’aboiement des chiens, les appels des oiseaux l’éveillèrent.

This word in other languages

rooster(English)gallo(Español)Hahn(Deutsch)galo(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "coq"?
"coq" is spelled C-O-Q. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔk\.
What does "coq" mean?
As a noun, "coq" means: Genre d’oiseau de l’ordre des galliformes et de la famille des phasianidés, comprenant quatre espèces habitant les forêts humides du sud de l’Asie, de l’Inde jusqu’à l’Indonésie, au dimorphisme sex...
What words are commonly confused with "coq"?
"coq" is commonly confused with "CV", "Ct", "CP". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "coq"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coq" is \kɔk\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "coq" come from?
"coq" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "coq", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

USB#8,942Tag#8,935See#8,925pin#9,054

What to do next

You've looked up "coq". Here's where to go from here.

  • "coq" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "CV". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #8,980 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse

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

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list