comptevscôteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#196
“compte” frequency rank
#1,288
“côte” frequency rank
1484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compte côte
Definition Action de compter, dénombrement, calcul opéré sur tel ou tel ensemble de choses ; résultat de cette action. Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique.

Where the eye mixes compte and côte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
compte
4 ch
côte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. compte (\kɔ̃t\) 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 differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compte is recorded at frequency rank #196, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\. 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 1484, this pair ranks #437,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of compte vs côte

Shared letters: cet. Private to "compte": mop. Private to "côte": ô.

"compte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • compteccompte · cmopte · commpte · compet · comppte · comptte · comtpe · copmte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "compte" and "côte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃t\ versus \kot\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "compte" or "côte"?
"compte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #196 in our French list, against #1,288 for "côte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "compte" and "côte". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "compte" 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 #437,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "compte" and "côte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs côte". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list