Which to use
“cath” and “coat” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,167
- “cath” frequency rank
- #38,709
- “coat” frequency rank
- 78876
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cath | coat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chat (animal). | Manteau, veste. |
Where the eye mixes cath and coat
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cath with coat
A purely visual mix-up. cath (\kaːθ\) and coat (\kot\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cath is recorded at frequency rank #40,167, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaːθ\. coat is at rank #38,709, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kot\.
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 78876, this pair ranks #24,649 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cath vs coat
Shared letters: act. Private to "cath": h. Private to "coat": o.
"cath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "coat" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cath" and "coat" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cath" vs "coat" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cath" and "coat" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,649 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cath" and "coat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canto vs cath". 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 #24,649 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.