coagulationvscongélationConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,861
“coagulation” frequency rank
#28,496
“congélation” frequency rank
64357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coagulation congélation
Definition Action de se coaguler ou résultat de cette action. Action de congeler ou de se congeler.

Where the eye mixes coagulation and congélation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. coagulation (CVVCVCVCVVC) and congélation (CVCCVCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
coagulation
11 ch
congélation

Visual trap between coagulation and congélation

A purely visual mix-up. coagulation (\kɔ.a.ɡy.la.sjɔ̃\) and congélation (\kɔ̃.ʒe.la.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coagulation is recorded at frequency rank #35,861, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.a.ɡy.la.sjɔ̃\. congélation is at rank #28,496, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ʒe.la.sjɔ̃\.

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 64357, this pair ranks #77,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of coagulation vs congélation

Shared letters: acgilnot. Private to "coagulation": u. Private to "congélation": é.

"coagulation" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVCVCVVC  ·  "congélation" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coagulation ← caogulation · ccoagulation · coaggulation · coagluation · coagualtion · coagulaiton · coagulatino · coagulationn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coagulation" for "congélation" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.a.ɡy.la.sjɔ̃\ versus \kɔ̃.ʒe.la.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "coagulation" or "congélation" show up more?
"congélation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,496 in our French list, against #35,861 for "coagulation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "coagulation" and "congélation" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coagulation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "congélation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coagulation" and "congélation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congélation vs congestion". 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 #77,444 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