CoréevscoûteConfusable pair

Quick tell: Corée is a name, coûte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Corée” is a name and “coûte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,062
“Corée” frequency rank
#2,915
“coûte” frequency rank
5977
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Corée coûte
Definition Péninsule montagneuse d’Asie de l’Est, dont une des villes importantes est Séoul. Elle est bordée au nord par la Mandchourie, à l’est par la mer du Japon, et à l’ouest par la mer Jaune. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de coûter.

Where the eye mixes Corée and coûte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Corée
5 ch
coûte

Why the eye confuses Corée with coûte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Corée is \kɔ.ʁe\ while coûte is \kut\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Corée is recorded at frequency rank #3,062, classified as aname, pronounced \kɔ.ʁe\. coûte is at rank #2,915, tagged as averb, pronounced \kut\.

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 5977, this pair ranks #427,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Corée vs coûte

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "Corée": . Private to "coûte": .

"Corée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "coûte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Corée" for "coûte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Corée" is a name and "coûte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Corée" vs "coûte" - which ranks higher?
"coûte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,915 in our French list, against #3,062 for "Corée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Corée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coûte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Corée" and "coûte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs Corée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #427,522 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