Which to use
“coiffer” and “coincer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,908
- “coiffer” frequency rank
- #24,520
- “coincer” frequency rank
- 49428
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coiffer | coincer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Couvrir la tête de quelqu’un, y mettre quelque chose. | Enfoncer des coins pour écarter, fendre. |
Where the eye mixes coiffer and coincer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. coiffer and coincer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses coiffer with coincer
A purely visual mix-up. coiffer (\kwa.fe\) and coincer (\kwɛ̃.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coiffer is recorded at frequency rank #24,908, classified as averb, pronounced \kwa.fe\. coincer is at rank #24,520, tagged as averb, pronounced \kwɛ̃.se\.
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 49428, this pair ranks #170,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coiffer vs coincer
Shared letters: ceior. Private to "coiffer": f. Private to "coincer": n.
"coiffer" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "coincer" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coiffer" for "coincer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "coiffer" vs "coincer" - 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 "coiffer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coincer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coiffer" and "coincer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coincer vs Conner". 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 #170,764 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.