Which to use
“combe” and “cosse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,749
- “combe” frequency rank
- #33,195
- “cosse” frequency rank
- 65944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | combe | cosse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petite vallée, pli de terrain, lieu bas entouré de collines. | Enveloppe de la graine, gousse, écorce. |
Where the eye mixes combe and cosse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. combe and cosse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between combe and cosse
A purely visual mix-up. combe (\kɔ̃b\) and cosse (\kɔs\) 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 65944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
combe is recorded at frequency rank #32,749, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃b\. cosse is at rank #33,195, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔs\.
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 65944, this pair ranks #70,058 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of combe vs cosse
Shared letters: ceo. Private to "combe": bm. Private to "cosse": s.
"combe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cosse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "combe" and "cosse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "combe" vs "cosse" - 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 "combe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cosse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,058 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "combe" and "cosse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs cosse". 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 #70,058 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.