coopérationvscoopérativeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,870
“coopération” frequency rank
#9,630
“coopérative” frequency rank
12500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coopération coopérative
Definition Action de coopérer. Société où les clients sont tous actionnaires.

Where the eye mixes coopération and coopérative

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. coopération (CVVCVCVCVVC) and coopérative (CVVCVCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
coopération
11 ch
coopérative

Look-alike desk: coopération vs coopérative

A purely visual mix-up. coopération (\kɔ.ɔ.pe.ʁa.sjɔ̃\) and coopérative (\kɔ.ɔ.pe.ʁa.tiv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coopération is recorded at frequency rank #2,870, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.ɔ.pe.ʁa.sjɔ̃\. coopérative is at rank #9,630, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.ɔ.pe.ʁa.tiv\.

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 12500, this pair ranks #405,013 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coopération vs coopérative

Shared letters: acioprté. Private to "coopération": n. Private to "coopérative": ev.

"coopération" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVCVCVVC  ·  "coopérative" · 11 letters · shape CVVCVCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coopération" and "coopérative" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.ɔ.pe.ʁa.sjɔ̃\ versus \kɔ.ɔ.pe.ʁa.tiv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "coopération" or "coopérative" show up more?
"coopération" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,870 in our French list, against #9,630 for "coopérative". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coopération" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coopérative" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #405,013 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coopération" and "coopérative" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coopération vs cooptation". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #405,013 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