Which to use
“cordée” and “coulée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,693
- “cordée” frequency rank
- #18,972
- “coulée” frequency rank
- 59665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cordée | coulée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui peut être entouré d'une corde. | Action de s’écouler ; résultat de cette action. |
Where the eye mixes cordée and coulée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cordée (CVCCVV) and coulée (CVVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between cordée and coulée
A purely visual mix-up. cordée (\kɔʁ.de\) and coulée (\ku.le\) 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 59665, 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\. coulée is at rank #18,972, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.le\.
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 59665, this pair ranks #101,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cordée vs coulée
Shared letters: ceoé. Private to "cordée": dr. Private to "coulée": lu.
"cordée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "coulée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cordée" and "coulée" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cordée" or "coulée"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cordée" and "coulée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cordée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coulée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #101,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cordée" and "coulée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs cordée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #101,875 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.