Which to use
“cities” and “côtes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,467
- “cities” frequency rank
- #3,395
- “côtes” frequency rank
- 37862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cities | côtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de city. | Pluriel de côte. |
Where the eye mixes cities and côtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cities and côtes
A purely visual mix-up. cities (\ˈsɪt.iz\) and côtes (\kot\) 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 37862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cities is recorded at frequency rank #34,467, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪt.iz\. 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 37862, this pair ranks #259,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cities vs côtes
Shared letters: cest. Private to "cities": i. Private to "côtes": ô.
"cities" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "côtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cities ← ccities · ciites · citeis · citiess · citise · citties · ctiies · icties
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cities" and "côtes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cities" vs "côtes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cities" 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 #259,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cities" and "côtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cities vs citizens". 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 #259,444 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.