collvscomaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,449
“coll” frequency rank
#8,824
“coma” frequency rank
18273
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coll coma
Definition cou. État somnolent avec abolition de la sensibilité et du mouvement volontaire.

Where the eye mixes coll and coma

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

4 ch
coll
4 ch
coma

Look-alike desk: coll vs coma

A purely visual mix-up. coll ([ˈkɔʎ]) and coma (\kɔ.ma\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coll is recorded at frequency rank #9,449, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɔʎ]. coma is at rank #8,824, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.ma\.

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 18273, this pair ranks #379,170 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coll vs coma

Shared letters: co. Private to "coll": l. Private to "coma": am.

"coll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "coma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • collccoll · clol · ocll
  • comaccoma · cmoa · coam · comma · ocma

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coll" and "coma" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɔʎ] versus \kɔ.ma\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "coll" or "coma"?
"coma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,824 in our French list, against #9,449 for "coll". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coll" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #379,170 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coll" and "coma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coll 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 #379,170 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