coton

\kɔ.tɔ̃\

/\kɔ.tɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“coton” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,074. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,074
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fibre textile végétale, issue de la bourre composée de filaments longs, fins, soyeux, qui enveloppe les graines du cotonnier.

Corpus desk

Index FR-coton · coton · French

coton · rank #6,074 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,074
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH cotisations

Nearest frequency peer: cotisations (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « coton »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « coton » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

coton vs cotte
60% similar
coton vs cotta
60% similar
coton vs côtoyé
50% similar

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

Key facts for coton
PropertyValue
Headwordcoton
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ.tɔ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#6,074
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « coton »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).cotonse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « cotisations » (#6,073), « culturels » (#6,075), « correction » (#6,072). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « coton » est au #6,074. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around coton (IPA \kɔ.tɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,074 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for coton, with forms such as "ccoton", "cootn", and "cotno". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cotte", "cotta", "côtoyé", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is coton, spelled C-O-T-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fibre textile végétale, issue de la bourre composée de filaments longs, fins, soyeux, qui enveloppe les graines du cotonnier.
  2. 2
    Duvet formé de poils longs, entrecroisés et crépus, qu’on observe à la surface des fruits, des feuilles, etc., de certains végétaux.
  3. 3
    Bourre qui enveloppe le bourgeon de la vigne et de quelques autres arbres.
  4. 4
    Duvet follet qui vient aux joues et au menton des jeunes hommes.
  5. 5
    Chandail à manches longues habituellement fait de coton et servant à garder au chaud.
  6. 6
    Race de chien au poil long et blanc, qui rappelle la fibre du cotonnier.
  7. 7
    Partie dure et souvent filandreuse de certaines plantes.
  8. 8
    Brouillard.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. J’obstrue avec du coton et de l’étoupe la brèche que présente le pont.
  2. La technique de récolte du coton laisse la plante en place, avec une quantité importante de matière végétale en partie lignifiée à détruire par brûlage, ou à réduire en brins courts pour favoriser l’enfouissement et la décomposition dans le sol.

Synonyms

kangouroucoton ouaté

This word in other languages

cotton(English)algodón(Español)Baumwolle(Deutsch)algodão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccoton
  • cootn
  • cotno
  • cotonn
  • ctoon
  • octon

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of coton - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ccoton1cootn2cotno2cotonn1ctoon2octon2
Edit distance from "coton"

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 "coton"?
"coton" is spelled C-O-T-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ.tɔ̃\.
What does "coton" mean?
As a noun, "coton" means: Fibre textile végétale, issue de la bourre composée de filaments longs, fins, soyeux, qui enveloppe les graines du cotonnier.
What words are commonly confused with "coton"?
"coton" is commonly confused with "cotte", "cotta", "côtoyé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "coton"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coton" is \kɔ.tɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "coton" come from?
"coton" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "coton", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

chéri#6,062faune#6,088fibre#6,089havre#6,093

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

clef6 variantsfaille6 variantsfred6 variantsCarl6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list