Which to use
“coiffée” is an adjective and “coiffer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,374
- “coiffée” frequency rank
- #24,908
- “coiffer” frequency rank
- 52282
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coiffée | coiffer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de coiffé. | Couvrir la tête de quelqu’un, y mettre quelque chose. |
Same sound, different letters: coiffée vs coiffer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. coiffée (CVVCCVV) and coiffer (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: coiffée vs coiffer
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: coiffée and coiffer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kwa.fe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coiffée is recorded at frequency rank #27,374, classified as anadj, pronounced \kwa.fe\. coiffer is at rank #24,908, tagged as averb, pronounced \kwa.fe\.
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 52282, this pair ranks #148,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coiffée vs coiffer
Shared letters: cefio. Private to "coiffée": é. Private to "coiffer": r.
"coiffée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV · "coiffer" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- coiffer ← ccoiffer · cioffer · cofifer · coifefr · coifer · coifferr · coiffre · ociffer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coiffée" for "coiffer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "coiffée" vs "coiffer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "coiffée" / "coiffer". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "coiffée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coiffer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coiffée" and "coiffer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chiffrée vs coiffée". 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 #148,810 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.