cordéevscornéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,693
“cordée” frequency rank
#33,194
“cornée” frequency rank
73887
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cordée cornée
Definition Ce qui peut être entouré d'une corde. Partie transparente insérée dans la sclérotique de l’œil devant le cristallin.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cordée and cornée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
cordée
6 ch
cornée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cordée (\kɔʁ.de\) and cornée (\kɔʁ.ne\) 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 a single letter - d in “cordée” becomes n in “cornée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cordée is recorded at frequency rank #40,693, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.de\. cornée is at rank #33,194, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.ne\.

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 73887, this pair ranks #38,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cordée vs cornée

Shared letters: ceoré. Private to "cordée": d. Private to "cornée": n.

"cordée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "cornée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

cordée#40,693
cornée#33,194

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cordée" and "cornée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔʁ.de\ versus \kɔʁ.ne\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cordée" or "cornée"?
"cornée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,194 in our French list, against #40,693 for "cordée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cordée vs cornée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cordée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list