Which to use
“cosa” and “cous” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,679
- “cosa” frequency rank
- #38,734
- “cous” frequency rank
- 85413
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cosa | cous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante du IXᵉ siècle de chose. | Pierre à aiguiser utilisée par les faucheurs. |
Where the eye mixes cosa and cous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cosa (CVCV) and cous (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: cosa vs cous
A purely visual mix-up. cosa (\ˈkɔza ~ˈkɔzə\) and cous (\kus\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85413, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cosa is recorded at frequency rank #46,679, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔza ~ˈkɔzə\. cous is at rank #38,734, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kus\.
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 85413, this pair ranks #11,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cosa vs cous
Shared letters: cos. Private to "cosa": a. Private to "cous": u.
"cosa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cosa" for "cous" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cosa" or "cous"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cosa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cosa" and "cous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cosa vs coupa". 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 #11,406 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.