coinvscriConfusable pair

Which to use

“coin” and “cri” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,435
“coin” frequency rank
#5,649
“cri” frequency rank
7084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coin cri
Definition Pièce de fer ou de bois ou de toute autre matière dure, de forme prismatique, dont on se sert principalement pour fendre du bois, des pierres, en la faisant entrer de force avec un maillet ou un marteau. Action de crier, son perçant ou puissant émis par la voix d’un être humain ou d’un animal.

Where the eye mixes coin and cri

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
coin
3 ch
cri

Look-alike desk: coin vs cri

A purely visual mix-up. coin (\kwɛ̃\) and cri (\kʁi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coin is recorded at frequency rank #1,435, classified as anoun, pronounced \kwɛ̃\. cri is at rank #5,649, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁi\.

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 7084, this pair ranks #424,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coin vs cri

Shared letters: ci. Private to "coin": no. Private to "cri": r.

"coin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "cri" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coinccoin · cion · coinn · coni · ocin

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coin" and "cri" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kwɛ̃\ versus \kʁi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "coin" or "cri"?
"coin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,435 in our French list, against #5,649 for "cri". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cri" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coin" and "cri" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciro vs cri". 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 #424,293 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