Which to use
“coca” and “coup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,799
- “coca” frequency rank
- #226
- “coup” frequency rank
- 8025
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coca | coup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plante d’Amérique du Sud de la famille des érythroxylacées utilisée par les populations locales, comme plante médicinale et pour fabriquer la cocaïne, dont les feuilles, mâchées par les courriers, les voyageurs, les mineurs, leur permettent de rester un jour ou deux sans prendre d'aliments solides ou liquides. | Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant. |
Where the eye mixes coca and coup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between coca and coup
A purely visual mix-up. coca (\kɔ.ka\) and coup (\ku\) 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 8025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coca is recorded at frequency rank #7,799, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.ka\. coup is at rank #226, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.
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 8025, this pair ranks #421,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coca vs coup
Shared letters: co. Private to "coca": a. Private to "coup": pu.
"coca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "coup" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coca" for "coup" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "coca" or "coup" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coca" and "coup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coca vs coupa". 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 #421,366 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.