coivscosyConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#40,676
“coi” frequency rank
#41,722
“cosy” frequency rank
82398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coi cosy
Definition Qui est calme, tranquille. Enveloppe fourrée, généralement en tissu ouatiné, dont on couvre une théière, un plat ou un œuf, pour en conserver la chaleur.

Where the eye mixes coi and cosy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. coi runs 3 letters (CVV) against cosy's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
coi
4 ch
cosy

Why the eye confuses coi with cosy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coi is \kwa\ while cosy is \kɔ.zi\. 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 82398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coi is recorded at frequency rank #40,676, classified as anadj, pronounced \kwa\. cosy is at rank #41,722, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.zi\.

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 82398, this pair ranks #16,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of coi vs cosy

Shared letters: co. Private to "coi": i. Private to "cosy": sy.

"coi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "cosy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cosy ← ccosy · cossy · cosyy · coys · csoy · ocsy

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coi" and "cosy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coi" is an adjective and "cosy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "coi" or "cosy" show up more?
"coi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,676 in our French list, against #41,722 for "cosy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cosy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coi" and "cosy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coon vs cosy". 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 #16,815 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