Which to use
“conte” is a noun and “coûte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,741
- “conte” frequency rank
- #2,915
- “coûte” frequency rank
- 7656
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conte | coûte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Récit d’aventures imaginaires, soit qu’elles aient de la vraisemblance ou que s’y mêle du merveilleux, du féerique. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de coûter. |
Where the eye mixes conte and coûte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: conte vs coûte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: conte is \kɔ̃t\ while coûte is \kut\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “conte” becomes û in “coûte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7656, 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\. coûte is at rank #2,915, tagged as averb, pronounced \kut\.
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 7656, this pair ranks #422,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of conte vs coûte
Shared letters: ceot. Private to "conte": n. Private to "coûte": û.
"conte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "coûte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- conte ← cconte · cnote · conet · connte · contte · cotne · ocnte
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "conte" for "coûte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "conte" vs "coûte" - which ranks higher?
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 "coûte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conte" and "coûte" 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 #422,526 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.