coïtvscroîtConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#41,723
“coït” frequency rank
#18,977
“croît” frequency rank
60700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coït croît
Definition Accouplement sexuel. Augmentation d’un troupeau par la naissance des petits.

Where the eye mixes coït and croît

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. coït runs 4 letters (CVCC) against croît's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
coït
5 ch
croît

Why the eye confuses coït with croît

A purely visual mix-up. coït (\kɔ.it\) and croît (\kʁwa\) 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 60700, 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\. croît is at rank #18,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁwa\.

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 60700, this pair ranks #96,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of coït vs croît

Shared letters: cot. Private to "coït": ï. Private to "croît": rî.

"coït" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "croît" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coït" and "croît" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.it\ versus \kʁwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "coït" vs "croît" - which ranks higher?
"croît" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,977 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coït" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "croît" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #96,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coït" and "croît" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coït vs coon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #96,263 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