coûteux

\ku.tø\

/\ku.tø\/ adj

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

The verdict

“coûteux” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #9,460. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,460
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
14
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui coûte cher.

Corpus desk

Index FR-couteux · coûteux · French

coûteux · rank #9,460 · 10 variants · 14 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,460
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 14 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH couru

Nearest frequency peer: couru (-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 « coûteux »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « coûteux » 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).

coûteux vs coûte
71% similar
coûteux vs coûter
71% similar
coûteux vs cortex
71% similar

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

Key facts for coûteux
PropertyValue
Headwordcoûteux
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ku.tø\
Letters7
Frequency rank#9,460
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « coûteux »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).coûteuxse 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 « couru » (#9,459), « Ct » (#9,461), « couloirs » (#9,458). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « coûteux » est au #9,460. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around coûteux (IPA \ku.tø\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #9,460 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for coûteux, with forms such as "ccoûteux", "cotûeux", and "couteux". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "coûte", "coûter", "cortex", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is coûteux, spelled C-O-Û-T-E-U-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui coûte cher.
  2. 2
    Qui exige un sacrifice.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le cycle de l’insecte est de trois semaines. La lutte peut se faire par voie chimique (oxydéméton-méthyl, malation, parathion) mais elle est coûteuse.
  2. Mais tous font état d’un système d’une complexité inouïe. Dans les faits, sa mise en œuvre se révèle coûteuse, incertaine, voire même ubuesque.

Synonyms

cheronéreuxdispendieux

Antonyms

bon marchécadeaudonnégratuit

This word in other languages

costly(English)costoso(Español)teuer(Deutsch)caro(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccoûteux
  • cotûeux
  • couteux
  • coûetux
  • coûteuxx
  • coûtexu
  • coûtteux
  • coûtuex
  • cûoteux
  • ocûteux

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of coûteux - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccoûteux1cotûeux2couteux1coûetux2coûteuxx1coûtexu2coûtteux1coûtuex2
Edit distance from "coûteux"

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 "coûteux"?
"coûteux" is spelled C-O-Û-T-E-U-X. The IPA pronunciation is \ku.tø\.
What does "coûteux" mean?
As an adjective, "coûteux" means: Qui coûte cher.
What words are commonly confused with "coûteux"?
"coûteux" is commonly confused with "coûte", "coûter", "cortex". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "coûteux"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coûteux" is \ku.tø\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "coûteux" come from?
"coûteux" 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 "coûteux", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

divisée#9,471emparer#9,477escorte#9,480brevets#9,438

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

commente10 variantsarrivées10 variantsécarts10 variantsvariées10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list