cortevscotteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,386
“corte” frequency rank
#43,365
“cotte” frequency rank
70751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corte cotte
Definition Cour. Jupe.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set corte and cotte apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
corte
5 ch
cotte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. corte (\ˈkɔr.te\) and cotte (\kɔt\) 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 “corte” becomes t in “cotte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corte is recorded at frequency rank #27,386, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔr.te\. cotte is at rank #43,365, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔt\.

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 70751, this pair ranks #50,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of corte vs cotte

Shared letters: ceot. Private to "corte": r. Private to "cotte": -.

"corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cotte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corteccorte · coret · corrte · cotre · ocrte
  • cotteccotte · cotet · ctote · octte

Frequency comparison

corte#27,386
cotte#43,365

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corte" and "cotte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈkɔr.te\ versus \kɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "corte" or "cotte"?
"corte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,386 in our French list, against #43,365 for "cotte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering corte vs cotte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “corte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list