Which to use
“coma” and “côte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,824
- “coma” frequency rank
- #1,288
- “côte” frequency rank
- 10112
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coma | côte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | État somnolent avec abolition de la sensibilité et du mouvement volontaire. | Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique. |
Where the eye mixes coma and côte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between coma and côte
A purely visual mix-up. coma (\kɔ.ma\) and côte (\kot\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coma is recorded at frequency rank #8,824, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.ma\. côte is at rank #1,288, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kot\.
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 10112, this pair ranks #414,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coma vs côte
Shared letters: c. Private to "coma": amo. Private to "côte": etô.
"coma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- coma ← ccoma · cmoa · coam · comma · ocma
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coma" for "côte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "coma" vs "côte" - which ranks higher?
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 "coma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "côte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coma" and "côte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coma vs coupa". 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 #414,182 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.