covscutWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“co” and “cut” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,856
“co” frequency rank
#17,668
“cut” frequency rank
19524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature co cut
Definition Connexion. Pointage permettant de se qualifier.

Where the eye mixes co and cut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
co
3 ch
cut

Why the eye confuses co with cut

A purely visual mix-up. co (\ko\) and cut (\kœt\) 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 19524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

co is recorded at frequency rank #1,856, classified as anoun, pronounced \ko\. cut is at rank #17,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kœt\.

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 19524, this pair ranks #372,840 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of co vs cut

Shared letters: c. Private to "co": o. Private to "cut": tu.

"co" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "cut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "co" and "cut" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ko\ versus \kœt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "co" vs "cut" - which ranks higher?
"co" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,856 in our French list, against #17,668 for "cut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "co" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #372,840 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "co" and "cut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cut". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #372,840 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list