Which to use
“cornée” and “coulée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,194
- “cornée” frequency rank
- #18,972
- “coulée” frequency rank
- 52166
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cornée | coulée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie transparente insérée dans la sclérotique de l’œil devant le cristallin. | Action de s’écouler ; résultat de cette action. |
Where the eye mixes cornée and coulée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cornée (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 cornée and coulée
A purely visual mix-up. cornée (\kɔʁ.ne\) 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 52166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cornée is recorded at frequency rank #33,194, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.ne\. 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 52166, this pair ranks #149,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cornée vs coulée
Shared letters: ceoé. Private to "cornée": nr. Private to "coulée": lu.
"cornée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "coulée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cornée" for "coulée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cornée" or "coulée"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cornée" 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 #149,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cornée" and "coulée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs cornée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #149,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.