Which to use
“cogné” is a verb and “Cologne” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,008
- “cogné” frequency rank
- #11,191
- “Cologne” frequency rank
- 38199
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cogné | Cologne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe cogner. | Ville, commune, arrondissement et district d’Allemagne, située dans la Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie. |
Where the eye mixes cogné and Cologne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cogné runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against Cologne's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cogné with Cologne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cogné is \kɔ.ɲe\ while Cologne is \kɔ.ˈlɔɲ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cogné is recorded at frequency rank #27,008, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.ɲe\. Cologne is at rank #11,191, tagged as aname, pronounced \kɔ.ˈlɔɲ\.
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 38199, this pair ranks #256,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cogné vs Cologne
Shared letters: cgno. Private to "cogné": é. Private to "Cologne": el.
"cogné" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Cologne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Cologne ← ccologne · cloogne · colgone · collogne · cologen · cologgne · colognne · colonge
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cogné" and "Cologne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cogné" vs "Cologne" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cogné" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Cologne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #256,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cogné" and "Cologne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cogné vs conde". 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 #256,961 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.