copiesvscoupesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,041
“copies” frequency rank
#5,235
“coupes” frequency rank
12276
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature copies coupes
Definition Pluriel de copie. Pluriel de coupe.

Where the eye mixes copies and coupes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
copies
6 ch
coupes

Visual trap between copies and coupes

A purely visual mix-up. copies (\kɔ.pi\) and coupes (\kup\) 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 12276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

copies is recorded at frequency rank #7,041, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.pi\. coupes is at rank #5,235, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kup\.

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 12276, this pair ranks #405,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of copies vs coupes

Shared letters: ceops. Private to "copies": i. Private to "coupes": u.

"copies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "coupes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • copiesccopies · coipes · copeis · copiess · copise · coppies · cpoies · ocpies
  • coupesccoupes · copues · coueps · coupess · couppes · coupse · cuopes · ocupes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "copies" for "coupes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.pi\ versus \kup\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "copies" vs "coupes" - which ranks higher?
"coupes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,235 in our French list, against #7,041 for "copies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "copies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coupes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #405,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "copies" and "coupes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "copiée vs copies". 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 #405,915 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