Which to use
“cont” and “costa” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,949
- “cont” frequency rank
- #6,385
- “costa” frequency rank
- 51334
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cont | costa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Compte. | Côte. |
Where the eye mixes cont and costa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cont with costa
A purely visual mix-up. cont (\ˈkont\) and costa (\ˈko.sta\) 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 51334, 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\. costa is at rank #6,385, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈko.sta\.
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 51334, this pair ranks #155,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cont vs costa
Shared letters: cot. Private to "cont": n. Private to "costa": as.
"cont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "costa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cont" and "costa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cont" or "costa"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cont" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "costa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #155,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cont" and "costa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs cont". 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 #155,815 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.