cordesvscordierWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cordes is a noun, cordier is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cordes” is a noun and “cordier” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,282
“cordes” frequency rank
#34,962
“cordier” frequency rank
41244
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cordes cordier
Definition Pluriel de corde. Relatif à la fabrication ou au commerce de cordes.

Where the eye mixes cordes and cordier

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

6 ch
cordes
7 ch
cordier

Look-alike desk: cordes vs cordier

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cordes is \kɔʁd\ while cordier is \kɔʁ.dje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cordes is recorded at frequency rank #6,282, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁd\. cordier is at rank #34,962, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔʁ.dje\.

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 41244, this pair ranks #234,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cordes vs cordier

Shared letters: cdeor. Private to "cordes": s. Private to "cordier": i.

"cordes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cordier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cordesccordes · codres · corddes · cordess · cordse · coreds · corrdes · crodes
  • cordierccordier · codrier · corddier · cordeir · cordierr · cordire · corider · corrdier

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cordes" for "cordier" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cordes" is a noun and "cordier" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cordes" vs "cordier" - which ranks higher?
"cordes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,282 in our French list, against #34,962 for "cordier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cordes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cordier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cordes" and "cordier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Carlier vs cordier". 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 #234,516 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