Which to use
“cause” and “coule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #332
- “cause” frequency rank
- #6,283
- “coule” frequency rank
- 6615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cause | coule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui fait qu’une chose est ou s’opère. | Manteau à larges manches porté par les religieux et religieuses. Seul celui des moines a une capuche. |
Where the eye mixes cause and coule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cause and coule
A purely visual mix-up. cause (\koz\) and coule (\kul\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cause is recorded at frequency rank #332, classified as anoun, pronounced \koz\. coule is at rank #6,283, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kul\.
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 6615, this pair ranks #425,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cause vs coule
Shared letters: ceu. Private to "cause": as. Private to "coule": lo.
"cause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "coule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cause" and "coule" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cause" vs "coule" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cause" and "coule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coule vs coupa". 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 #425,738 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.