cortevsCteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,386
“corte” frequency rank
#42,264
“Cte” frequency rank
69650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corte Cte
Definition Cour. Comte.

Where the eye mixes corte and Cte

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

5 ch
corte
3 ch
Cte

Visual trap between corte and Cte

A purely visual mix-up. corte (\ˈkɔr.te\) and Cte (\kɔ̃t\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69650, 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\. Cte is at rank #42,264, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\.

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 69650, this pair ranks #54,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of corte vs Cte

Shared letters: cet. Private to "corte": or. Private to "Cte": -.

"corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Cte" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corteccorte · coret · corrte · cotre · ocrte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "corte" and "Cte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ˈkɔr.te\ versus \kɔ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "corte" or "Cte"?
"corte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,386 in our French list, against #42,264 for "Cte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "corte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Cte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corte" and "Cte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs Cte". 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 #54,342 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