consvscornuWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,243
“cons” frequency rank
#34,963
“cornu” frequency rank
38206
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cons cornu
Definition Masculin pluriel de con. Qui a des cornes.

Where the eye mixes cons and cornu

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

4 ch
cons
5 ch
cornu

Look-alike desk: cons vs cornu

A purely visual mix-up. cons (\kɔ̃\) and cornu (\kɔʁ.ny\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38206, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cons is recorded at frequency rank #3,243, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃\. cornu is at rank #34,963, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔʁ.ny\.

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 38206, this pair ranks #256,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cons vs cornu

Shared letters: cno. Private to "cons": s. Private to "cornu": ru.

"cons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cornu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • consccons · cnos · conns · conss · cosn · ocns
  • cornuccornu · conru · cornnu · corrnu · corun · cronu · ocrnu

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cons" and "cornu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃\ versus \kɔʁ.ny\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cons" vs "cornu" - which ranks higher?
"cons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,243 in our French list, against #34,963 for "cornu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cornu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #256,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cons" and "cornu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coon vs cornu". 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 #256,912 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list