corpsvscoupWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“corps” and “coup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#369
“corps” frequency rank
#226
“coup” frequency rank
595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corps coup
Definition Portion de matière qui forme un tout individuel et distinct. Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant.

Where the eye mixes corps and coup

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

5 ch
corps
4 ch
coup

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. corps (\kɔʁ\) and coup (\ku\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corps is recorded at frequency rank #369, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ\. coup is at rank #226, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.

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 595, this pair ranks #439,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of corps vs coup

Shared letters: cop. Private to "corps": rs. Private to "coup": u.

"corps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "coup" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corpsccorps · coprs · corpps · corpss · corrps · corsp · crops · ocrps
  • coupccoup · copu · coupp · cuop · ocup

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corps" and "coup" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔʁ\ versus \ku\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "corps" or "coup"?
"coup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #226 in our French list, against #369 for "corps". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "corps" and "coup". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "corps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #439,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corps" and "coup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "corps vs coupa". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list