CDIvsCOVWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“CDI” and “COV” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,686
“CDI” frequency rank
#48,437
“COV” frequency rank
55123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature CDI COV
Definition Contrat à durée indéterminée, type de contrat de travail en France. Composé organique volatil.

Where the eye mixes CDI and COV

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
CDI
3 ch
COV

Look-alike desk: CDI vs COV

A purely visual mix-up. CDI (\se.de.i\) and COV (\se o ve\) 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 55123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

CDI is recorded at frequency rank #6,686, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.de.i\. COV is at rank #48,437, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se o ve\.

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 55123, this pair ranks #129,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of CDI vs COV

Shared letters: c. Private to "CDI": di. Private to "COV": ov.

"CDI" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "COV" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "CDI" for "COV" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\se.de.i\ versus \se o ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "CDI" or "COV" show up more?
"CDI" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,686 in our French list, against #48,437 for "COV". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "CDI" and "COV" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "CDI" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "COV" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "CDI" and "COV" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs COV". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #129,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list