citéevscotéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: citée is a verb, cotée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“citée” is a verb and “cotée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,448
“citée” frequency rank
#22,815
“cotée” frequency rank
32263
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citée cotée
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier du verbe citer. Féminin singulier de coté.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set citée and cotée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
citée
5 ch
cotée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: citée is \si.te\ while cotée is \kɔ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “citée” becomes o in “cotée”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

citée is recorded at frequency rank #9,448, classified as averb, pronounced \si.te\. cotée is at rank #22,815, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.te\.

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 32263, this pair ranks #298,404 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of citée vs cotée

Shared letters: ceté. Private to "citée": i. Private to "cotée": o.

"citée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "cotée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequency comparison

citée#9,448
cotée#22,815

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "citée" and "cotée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "citée" is a verb and "cotée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "citée" or "cotée"?
"citée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,448 in our French list, against #22,815 for "cotée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering citée vs cotée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “citée”; for an adjective, it's “cotée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “citée” 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