codésvscôteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#47,232
“codés” frequency rank
#1,288
“côte” frequency rank
48520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature codés côte
Definition Masculin pluriel de codé. Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique.

Where the eye mixes codés and côte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. codés runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against côte's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
codés
4 ch
côte

Why the eye confuses codés with côte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: codés is \kɔ.de\ while côte is \kot\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

codés is recorded at frequency rank #47,232, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.de\. côte is at rank #1,288, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kot\.

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 48520, this pair ranks #178,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of codés vs côte

Shared letters: c. Private to "codés": dosé. Private to "côte": etô.

"codés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "codés" for "côte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "codés" is an adjective and "côte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "codés" or "côte"?
"côte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,288 in our French list, against #47,232 for "codés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "codés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "côte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "codés" and "côte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "codés vs conde". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #178,264 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