Which to use
“cortex” is a noun and “coûteux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,397
- “cortex” frequency rank
- #9,460
- “coûteux” frequency rank
- 26857
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cortex | coûteux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Couche superficielle ou périphérique d’un tissu organique. | Qui coûte cher. |
Where the eye mixes cortex and coûteux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cortex runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against coûteux's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cortex vs coûteux
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cortex is \kɔʁ.tɛks\ while coûteux is \ku.tø\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cortex is recorded at frequency rank #17,397, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.tɛks\. coûteux is at rank #9,460, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.tø\.
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 26857, this pair ranks #332,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cortex vs coûteux
Shared letters: ceotx. Private to "cortex": r. Private to "coûteux": uû.
"cortex" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "coûteux" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cortex ← ccortex · coretx · corrtex · cortexx · corttex · cortxe · cotrex · crotex
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cortex" and "coûteux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cortex" vs "coûteux" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cortex" and "coûteux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cortex" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûteux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #332,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cortex" and "coûteux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "context vs cortex". 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 #332,419 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.