covsCVWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,856
“co” frequency rank
#4,848
“CV” frequency rank
6704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature co CV
Definition Connexion. Curriculum vitæ.

Where the eye mixes co and CV

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

2 ch
co
2 ch
CV

Look-alike desk: co vs CV

A purely visual mix-up. co (\ko\) and CV (\se.ve\) 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 a single letter - o in “co” becomes v in “CV”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6704, 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\. CV is at rank #4,848, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.ve\.

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 6704, this pair ranks #425,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of co vs CV

Shared letters: c. Private to "co": o. Private to "CV": v.

"co" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "CV" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "co" for "CV" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ko\ versus \se.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "co" vs "CV" - which ranks higher?
"co" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,856 in our French list, against #4,848 for "CV". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "co" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "CV" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #425,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "co" and "CV" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs CV". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #425,483 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