cons vs coûts, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cons” is an adjective and “coûts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,243
“cons” frequency rank: #3,450
“coûts” frequency rank: 6693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cons	coûts
Definition	Masculin pluriel de con.	Pluriel de coût.

Where the eye mixes cons and coûts

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

4 ch

cons

5 ch

coûts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cons is \kɔ̃\ while coûts is \ku\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6693, 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\. coûts is at rank #3,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.

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 6693, this pair ranks #425,515 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cons vs coûts

Shared letters: cos. Private to "cons": n. Private to "coûts": tû.

"cons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "coûts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

cons ← ccons · cnos · conns · conss · cosn · ocns

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cons" and "coûts" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cons" is an adjective and "coûts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cons" or "coûts"?

"cons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,243 in our French list, against #3,450 for "coûts". 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 "cons" and "coûts". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "cons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "coûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #425,515 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"cons" and "coûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs coûts". 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.