Which to use
“conter” and “coûte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,538
- “conter” frequency rank
- #2,915
- “coûte” frequency rank
- 33453
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conter | coûte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Exposer par un récit. Il se dit principalement de récits que l’on fait dans la conversation. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de coûter. |
Where the eye mixes conter and coûte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: conter vs coûte
A purely visual mix-up. conter (\kɔ̃.te\) and coûte (\kut\) 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 33453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
conter is recorded at frequency rank #30,538, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\. 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 33453, this pair ranks #290,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of conter vs coûte
Shared letters: ceot. Private to "conter": nr. Private to "coûte": û.
"conter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "coûte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- conter ← cconter · cnoter · conetr · connter · contter · cotner · ocnter
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "conter" for "coûte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "conter" vs "coûte" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "conter" and "coûte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "conter" 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 #290,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conter" and "coûte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs conter". 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 #290,541 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.