Which to use
“close” is an adjective and “cosy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,842
- “close” frequency rank
- #41,722
- “cosy” frequency rank
- 52564
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | close | cosy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de clos. | Enveloppe fourrée, généralement en tissu ouatiné, dont on couvre une théière, un plat ou un œuf, pour en conserver la chaleur. |
Where the eye mixes close and cosy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between close and cosy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: close is \kloz\ while cosy is \kɔ.zi\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
close is recorded at frequency rank #10,842, classified as anadj, pronounced \kloz\. cosy is at rank #41,722, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.zi\.
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 52564, this pair ranks #146,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of close vs cosy
Shared letters: cos. Private to "close": el. Private to "cosy": y.
"close" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "cosy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "close" and "cosy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "close" or "cosy"?
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 "close" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cosy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "close" and "cosy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coon vs cosy". 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 #146,855 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.