condevscouveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: conde is a noun, couve is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“conde” is a noun and “couve” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,566
“conde” frequency rank
#32,360
“couve” frequency rank
81926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conde couve
Definition Comte. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de couver.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set conde and couve apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
conde
5 ch
couve

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: conde is \ˈko̞n.de̞\ while couve is \kuv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conde is recorded at frequency rank #49,566, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈko̞n.de̞\. couve is at rank #32,360, tagged as averb, pronounced \kuv\.

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 81926, this pair ranks #17,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of conde vs couve

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "conde": dn. Private to "couve": uv.

"conde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "couve" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • condecconde · cnode · codne · condde · coned · connde · ocnde
  • couveccouve · couev · couvve · covue · cuove · ocuve

Frequency comparison

conde#49,566
couve#32,360

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "conde" and "couve" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "conde" is a noun and "couve" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "conde" or "couve"?
"couve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,360 in our French list, against #49,566 for "conde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering conde vs couve

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “conde”; for a verb, it's “couve”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “conde” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list