citéesvscôtesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: citées is a verb, côtes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“citées” is a verb and “côtes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,541
“citées” frequency rank
#3,395
“côtes” frequency rank
16936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citées côtes
Definition Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe citer. Pluriel de côte.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
citées
5 ch
côtes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: citées is \si.te\ while côtes is \kot\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

citées is recorded at frequency rank #13,541, 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 16936, this pair ranks #385,553 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of citées vs côtes

Shared letters: cest. Private to "citées": . Private to "côtes": ô.

"citées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "côtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequency comparison

citées#13,541
côtes#3,395

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "citées" and "côtes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "citées" is a verb and "côtes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "citées" or "côtes"?
"côtes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,395 in our French list, against #13,541 for "citées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering citées vs côtes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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