Which to use
“colin” and “colis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,822
- “colin” frequency rank
- #5,228
- “colis” frequency rank
- 14050
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | colin | colis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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). | Caisse, ballot, paquet de marchandises expédiées. |
Where the eye mixes colin and colis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. colin and colis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses colin with colis
A purely visual mix-up. colin (\kɔ.lɛ̃\) and colis (\kɔ.li\) 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 a single letter - n in “colin” becomes s in “colis”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
colin is recorded at frequency rank #8,822, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɛ̃\. colis is at rank #5,228, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.li\.
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 14050, this pair ranks #398,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of colin vs colis
Shared letters: cilo. Private to "colin": n. Private to "colis": s.
"colin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "colis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "colin" and "colis" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "colin" or "colis" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "colin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "colis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "colin" and "colis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colin 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 #398,405 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.