Which to use
“cost” and “CSS” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,234
- “cost” frequency rank
- #18,705
- “CSS” frequency rank
- 32939
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cost | CSS |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Coût. | Séquence d’instructions de rendu visuel, auditif ou tactile d’une ressource HTML ou XML. |
Where the eye mixes cost and CSS
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cost with CSS
A purely visual mix-up. cost (\kɒst\) and CSS (\se ɛ.s‿ɛs\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32939, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cost is recorded at frequency rank #14,234, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɒst\. CSS is at rank #18,705, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se ɛ.s‿ɛs\.
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 32939, this pair ranks #293,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cost vs CSS
Shared letters: cs. Private to "cost": ot. Private to "CSS": -.
"cost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "CSS" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cost ← ccost · cosst · costt · cots · csot · ocst
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cost" and "CSS" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cost" or "CSS" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cost" and "CSS" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cost" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "CSS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cost" and "CSS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs CSS". 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 #293,949 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.