Which to use
“colles” and “colts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,596
- “colles” frequency rank
- #43,350
- “colts” frequency rank
- 68946
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | colles | colts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de colle. | Pluriel de colt. |
Where the eye mixes colles and colts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: colles vs colts
A purely visual mix-up. colles (\kɔl\) and colts (\kɔlt\) 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 68946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
colles is recorded at frequency rank #25,596, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔl\. colts is at rank #43,350, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔlt\.
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 68946, this pair ranks #57,093 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of colles vs colts
Shared letters: clos. Private to "colles": e. Private to "colts": t.
"colles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "colts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "colles" for "colts" ever safe?
Which is more common, "colles" or "colts"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "colles" and "colts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "colles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "colts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,093 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "colles" and "colts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colla vs colts". 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 #57,093 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.