corpsvscoupsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#369
“corps” frequency rank
#1,227
“coups” frequency rank
1596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corps coups
Definition Portion de matière qui forme un tout individuel et distinct. Pluriel de coup.

Where the eye mixes corps and coups

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
corps
5 ch
coups

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. corps (\kɔʁ\) and coups (\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 a single letter - r in “corps” becomes u in “coups”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corps is recorded at frequency rank #369, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ\. coups is at rank #1,227, 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 1596, this pair ranks #437,757 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of corps vs coups

Shared letters: cops. Private to "corps": r. Private to "coups": u.

"corps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "coups" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corpsccorps · coprs · corpps · corpss · corrps · corsp · crops · ocrps
  • coupsccoups · copus · coupps · coupss · cousp · cuops · ocups

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corps" and "coups" 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 "coups"?
"corps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #369 in our French list, against #1,227 for "coups". 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 "coups". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "corps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coups" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #437,757 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corps" and "coups" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs coups". 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