CDUvscoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,795
“CDU” frequency rank
#1,856
“co” frequency rank
25651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature CDU co
Definition Critère de défaillance unique. Connexion.

Where the eye mixes CDU and co

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

3 ch
CDU
2 ch
co

Visual trap between CDU and co

A purely visual mix-up. CDU (\se.de.y\) and co (\ko\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

CDU is recorded at frequency rank #23,795, classified as anoun, pronounced \se.de.y\. co is at rank #1,856, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ko\.

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 25651, this pair ranks #339,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of CDU vs co

Shared letters: c. Private to "CDU": du. Private to "co": o.

"CDU" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "co" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "CDU" for "co" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\se.de.y\ versus \ko\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "CDU" or "co"?
"co" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,856 in our French list, against #23,795 for "CDU". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "CDU" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "co" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #339,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "CDU" and "co" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs CDU". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #339,636 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