Which to use
“conte” and “côte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,741
- “conte” frequency rank
- #1,288
- “côte” frequency rank
- 6029
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conte | côte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Récit d’aventures imaginaires, soit qu’elles aient de la vraisemblance ou que s’y mêle du merveilleux, du féerique. | Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique. |
Where the eye mixes conte and côte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between conte and côte
A purely visual mix-up. conte (\kɔ̃t\) and côte (\kot\) 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 6029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
conte is recorded at frequency rank #4,741, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\. côte is at rank #1,288, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kot\.
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 6029, this pair ranks #427,374 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of conte vs côte
Shared letters: cet. Private to "conte": no. Private to "côte": ô.
"conte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- conte ← cconte · cnote · conet · connte · contte · cotne · ocnte
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "conte" and "côte" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "conte" or "côte"?
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 "conte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "côte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #427,374 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conte" and "côte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs conte". 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 #427,374 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.