contesvscoyotesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,803
“contes” frequency rank
#30,964
“coyotes” frequency rank
37767
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contes coyotes
Definition Pluriel de conte. Pluriel de coyote.

Where the eye mixes contes and coyotes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. contes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against coyotes's 7 (CVVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
contes
7 ch
coyotes

Visual trap between contes and coyotes

A purely visual mix-up. contes (\kɔ̃t\) and coyotes (\kɔ.jɔt\) 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 37767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contes is recorded at frequency rank #6,803, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\. coyotes is at rank #30,964, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.jɔt\.

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 37767, this pair ranks #260,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contes vs coyotes

Shared letters: ceost. Private to "contes": n. Private to "coyotes": y.

"contes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "coyotes" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contes ← ccontes · cnotes · conets · conntes · contess · contse · conttes · cotnes
  • coyotes ← ccoyotes · cooytes · coyoets · coyotess · coyotse · coyottes · coytoes · coyyotes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contes" and "coyotes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃t\ versus \kɔ.jɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "contes" vs "coyotes" - which ranks higher?
"contes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,803 in our French list, against #30,964 for "coyotes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "contes" and "coyotes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coyotes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #260,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contes" and "coyotes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cocottes vs coyotes". 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 #260,071 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list