chunvscousWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: chun is a preposition, cous is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chun” is a preposition and “cous” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,094
“chun” frequency rank
#38,734
“cous” frequency rank
68828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chun cous
Definition Vers, à : forme alternative de chuig. Pierre à aiguiser utilisée par les faucheurs.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set chun and cous apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
chun
4 ch
cous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chun is \xʊnˠ\ while cous is \kus\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chun is recorded at frequency rank #30,094, classified as aprep, pronounced \xʊnˠ\. cous is at rank #38,734, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kus\.

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 68828, this pair ranks #57,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of chun vs cous

Shared letters: cu. Private to "chun": hn. Private to "cous": os.

"chun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "cous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chuncchun · chhun · chnu · chunn · cuhn · hcun
  • cousccous · cosu · couss · cuos · ocus

Frequency comparison

chun#30,094
cous#38,734

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "chun" and "cous" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chun" is a preposition and "cous" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "chun" or "cous"?
"chun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,094 in our French list, against #38,734 for "cous". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering chun vs cous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “chun”; for a noun, it's “cous”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “chun” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list