cornervscounterWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: corner is a verb, counter is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“corner” is a verb and “counter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,555
“corner” frequency rank
#35,451
“counter” frequency rank
49006
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corner counter
Definition Sonner d’un cornet ou d’une corne. Guichet.

Where the eye mixes corner and counter

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

6 ch
corner
7 ch
counter

Look-alike desk: corner vs counter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: corner is \kɔʁ.ne\ while counter is \ˈkaʊn.tə(ɹ)\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corner is recorded at frequency rank #13,555, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔʁ.ne\. counter is at rank #35,451, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkaʊn.tə(ɹ)\.

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 49006, this pair ranks #174,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corner vs counter

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "corner": -. Private to "counter": tu.

"corner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "counter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cornerccorner · conrer · corenr · cornerr · cornner · cornre · corrner · croner
  • counterccounter · conuter · counetr · counnter · counterr · countre · countter · coutner

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "corner" and "counter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "corner" is a verb and "counter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "corner" or "counter"?
"corner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,555 in our French list, against #35,451 for "counter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "corner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "counter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #174,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corner" and "counter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "count vs counter". 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 #174,246 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