coïtvscolinWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,723
“coït” frequency rank
#8,822
“colin” frequency rank
50545
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coït colin
Definition Accouplement sexuel. Nom vernaculaire ambigu donné vulgairement à plusieurs genres de poissons osseux de l'ordre des gadiformes, dont les différentes espèces de lieu (Theragra spp. et Pollachius spp.) et le merlu commun (Merlucchius merlucchius), et à deux genres de poissons de l'ordre des perciformes (Dissostichus et Notothenia).

Where the eye mixes coït and colin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. coït runs 4 letters (CVCC) against colin's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
coït
5 ch
colin

Visual trap between coït and colin

A purely visual mix-up. coït (\kɔ.it\) and colin (\kɔ.lɛ̃\) 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 50545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coït is recorded at frequency rank #41,723, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.it\. colin is at rank #8,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɛ̃\.

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 50545, this pair ranks #161,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coït vs colin

Shared letters: co. Private to "coït": . Private to "colin": iln.

"coït" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "colin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • colinccolin · cloin · coiln · colinn · colni · oclin

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coït" and "colin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.it\ versus \kɔ.lɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "coït" vs "colin" - which ranks higher?
"colin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,822 in our French list, against #41,723 for "coït". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coït" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "colin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coït" and "colin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coït vs coon". 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 #161,810 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