cocuvscorkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cocu is a adjective, cork is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cocu” is an adjective and “cork” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,931
“cocu” frequency rank
#46,088
“cork” frequency rank
72019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cocu cork
Definition Dupé, trompé, victime d’infidélité conjugale. Saut composé d'une rotation faisant passer la planche par dessus la tête.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cocu and cork apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
cocu
4 ch
cork

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cocu is \kɔ.ky\ while cork is \kɔʁk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cocu is recorded at frequency rank #25,931, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.ky\. cork is at rank #46,088, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁk\.

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 72019, this pair ranks #45,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cocu vs cork

Shared letters: co. Private to "cocu": u. Private to "cork": kr.

"cocu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cork" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cocuccocu · ccou · coccu · couc · occu
  • corkccork · cokr · corkk · corrk · crok · ocrk

Frequency comparison

cocu#25,931
cork#46,088

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cocu" and "cork" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cocu" is an adjective and "cork" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cocu" or "cork"?
"cocu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,931 in our French list, against #46,088 for "cork". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cocu vs cork

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cocu”; for a noun, it's “cork”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cocu” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list