Which to use
“colles” and “coques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,596
- “colles” frequency rank
- #16,585
- “coques” frequency rank
- 42181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | colles | coques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de colle. | Pluriel de coque. |
Where the eye mixes colles and coques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses colles with coques
A purely visual mix-up. colles (\kɔl\) and coques (\kɔk\) 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 42181, 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\. coques is at rank #16,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔk\.
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 42181, this pair ranks #227,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of colles vs coques
Shared letters: ceos. Private to "colles": l. Private to "coques": qu.
"colles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "coques" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "colles" and "coques" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "colles" or "coques" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "colles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "colles" and "coques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colla vs colles". 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 #227,598 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.