Which to use
“cassée” is an adjective and “cosse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,737
- “cassée” frequency rank
- #33,195
- “cosse” frequency rank
- 45932
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cassée | cosse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de cassé. | Enveloppe de la graine, gousse, écorce. |
Where the eye mixes cassée and cosse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cassée runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against cosse's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cassée and cosse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cassée is \ka.se\ while cosse is \kɔs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cassée is recorded at frequency rank #12,737, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.se\. cosse is at rank #33,195, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔs\.
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 45932, this pair ranks #198,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cassée vs cosse
Shared letters: ces. Private to "cassée": aé. Private to "cosse": o.
"cassée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cosse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cosse ← ccosse · cose · coses · csose · ocsse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cassée" and "cosse" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cassée" or "cosse"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cassée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cosse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #198,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cassée" and "cosse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs cosse". 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 #198,933 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.