Which to use
“coquille” and “couilles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,553
- “coquille” frequency rank
- #4,139
- “couilles” frequency rank
- 15692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coquille | couilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enveloppe protectrice, dure et calcaire des œufs et de la plupart des mollusques. | Pluriel de couille. |
Where the eye mixes coquille and couilles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. coquille (CVCVVCCV) and couilles (CVVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: coquille vs couilles
A purely visual mix-up. coquille (\kɔ.kij\) and couilles (\kuj\) 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 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coquille is recorded at frequency rank #11,553, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.kij\. couilles is at rank #4,139, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuj\.
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 15692, this pair ranks #391,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coquille vs couilles
Shared letters: ceilou. Private to "coquille": q. Private to "couilles": s.
"coquille" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV · "couilles" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coquille" and "couilles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "coquille" or "couilles"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coquille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coquille" and "couilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "couilles vs coupoles". 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 #391,241 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.