coïtvscoxWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,723
“coït” frequency rank
#19,493
“cox” frequency rank
61216
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coït cox
Definition Accouplement sexuel. Variété de pommier.

Where the eye mixes coït and cox

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

4 ch
coït
3 ch
cox

Look-alike desk: coït vs cox

A purely visual mix-up. coït (\kɔ.it\) and cox (\koks\) 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 61216, 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\. cox is at rank #19,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced \koks\.

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 61216, this pair ranks #93,469 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of coït vs cox

Shared letters: co. Private to "coït": . Private to "cox": x.

"coït" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coït" for "cox" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.it\ versus \koks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "coït" or "cox"?
"cox" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,493 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.

Useful next steps

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 "cox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #93,469 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coït" and "cox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coït vs coon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #93,469 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