Which to use
“cosse” and “crosses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,195
- “cosse” frequency rank
- #47,268
- “crosses” frequency rank
- 80463
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cosse | crosses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enveloppe de la graine, gousse, écorce. | Pluriel de crosse. |
Where the eye mixes cosse and crosses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cosse runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against crosses's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cosse with crosses
A purely visual mix-up. cosse (\kɔs\) and crosses (\kʁɔs\) 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 80463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cosse is recorded at frequency rank #33,195, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔs\. crosses is at rank #47,268, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔs\.
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 80463, this pair ranks #20,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cosse vs crosses
Shared letters: ceos. Private to "cosse": -. Private to "crosses": r.
"cosse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "crosses" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cosse" and "crosses" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cosse" or "crosses"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cosse" and "crosses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cosse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crosses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cosse" and "crosses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs crosses". 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 #20,848 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.