contvscopsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,949
“cont” frequency rank
#39,241
“cops” frequency rank
84190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cont cops
Definition Compte. Enroulement de fils sur un tube cylindrique ou cylindro-conique.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cont and cops apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
cont
4 ch
cops

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cont (\ˈkont\) and cops (\kɔps\) 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 84190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cont is recorded at frequency rank #44,949, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkont\. cops is at rank #39,241, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔps\.

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 84190, this pair ranks #13,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cont vs cops

Shared letters: co. Private to "cont": nt. Private to "cops": ps.

"cont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contccont · cnot · connt · contt · cotn · ocnt
  • copsccops · copps · copss · cosp · cpos · ocps

Frequency comparison

cont#44,949
cops#39,241

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cont" and "cops" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈkont\ versus \kɔps\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cont" or "cops"?
"cops" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,241 in our French list, against #44,949 for "cont". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cont vs cops

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cont” 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