cochervscôtierConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,836
“cocher” frequency rank
#31,912
“côtier” frequency rank
48748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cocher côtier
Definition Qui permet le passage des véhicules. Relatif à, ou qui a la connaissance, la pratique d’une côte, des côtes du bord de la mer.

Where the eye mixes cocher and côtier

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cocher
6 ch
côtier

Look-alike desk: cocher vs côtier

A purely visual mix-up. cocher (\kɔ.ʃe\) and côtier (\ko.tje\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cocher is recorded at frequency rank #16,836, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.ʃe\. côtier is at rank #31,912, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ko.tje\.

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 48748, this pair ranks #176,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cocher vs côtier

Shared letters: cer. Private to "cocher": ho. Private to "côtier": itô.

"cocher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "côtier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cocherccocher · ccoher · coccher · cocehr · cocherr · cochher · cochre · cohcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cocher" and "côtier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.ʃe\ versus \ko.tje\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "cocher" or "côtier" show up more?
"cocher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,836 in our French list, against #31,912 for "côtier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cocher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "côtier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cocher" and "côtier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "copiée vs côtier". 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 #176,323 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