CortezvscoûterConfusable pair

Quick tell: Cortez is a name, coûter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Cortez” is a name and “coûter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,886
“Cortez” frequency rank
#8,089
“coûter” frequency rank
43975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Cortez coûter
Definition Nom de famille. Valoir tel ou tel prix d’achat.

Letter map: Cortez vs coûter

Shared letters muted; letters that set Cortez and coûter apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
Cortez
6 ch
coûter

Grammar separator: Cortez vs coûter

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Cortez is aname and coûteraverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Cortez is recorded at frequency rank #35,886, classified as aname. coûter is at rank #8,089, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.te\.

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 43975, this pair ranks #213,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Cortez vs coûter

Shared letters: ceort. Private to "Cortez": z. Private to "coûter": û.

"Cortez" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "coûter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Cortezccortez · coretz · corrtez · cortezz · corttez · cortze · cotrez · crotez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Cortez" for "coûter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Cortez" is a name and "coûter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Cortez" or "coûter"?
"coûter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,089 in our French list, against #35,886 for "Cortez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "Cortez" vs "coûter" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Cortez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coûter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #213,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Cortez" and "coûter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carrez vs Cortez". 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 #213,973 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