Which to use
“cirques” and “coques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,746
- “cirques” frequency rank
- #16,585
- “coques” frequency rank
- 49331
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cirques | coques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cirque. | Pluriel de coque. |
Where the eye mixes cirques and coques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cirques vs coques
A purely visual mix-up. cirques (\siʁk\) and coques (\kɔk\) 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 49331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cirques is recorded at frequency rank #32,746, classified as anoun, pronounced \siʁk\. coques is at rank #16,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔk\.
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 49331, this pair ranks #171,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cirques vs coques
Shared letters: ceqsu. Private to "cirques": ir. Private to "coques": o.
"cirques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "coques" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cirques" and "coques" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cirques" or "coques" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cirques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cirques" and "coques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cirques vs conques". 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 #171,573 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.