Which to use
“citée” is a verb and “côtes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,448
- “citée” frequency rank
- #3,395
- “côtes” frequency rank
- 12843
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | citée | côtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin singulier du verbe citer. | Pluriel de côte. |
Where the eye mixes citée and côtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. citée (CVCVV) and côtes (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: citée vs côtes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: citée is \si.te\ while côtes is \kot\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12843, 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\. côtes is at rank #3,395, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kot\.
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 12843, this pair ranks #403,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of citée vs côtes
Shared letters: cet. Private to "citée": ié. Private to "côtes": sô.
"citée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "côtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "citée" and "côtes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "citée" vs "côtes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "citée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "côtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "citée" and "côtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calée vs citée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #403,521 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.