Which to use
“costumes” and “coutume” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,598
- “costumes” frequency rank
- #8,832
- “coutume” frequency rank
- 15430
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | costumes | coutume |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de costume. | Usage établi ; habitude contractée. |
Where the eye mixes costumes and coutume
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. costumes runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against coutume's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses costumes with coutume
A purely visual mix-up. costumes (\kɔs.tym\) and coutume (\ku.tym\) 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 15430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
costumes is recorded at frequency rank #6,598, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔs.tym\. coutume is at rank #8,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.tym\.
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 15430, this pair ranks #392,404 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of costumes vs coutume
Shared letters: cemotu. Private to "costumes": s. Private to "coutume": -.
"costumes" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "coutume" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "costumes" and "coutume" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "costumes" or "coutume"?
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 "costumes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coutume" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,404 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "costumes" and "coutume" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cousue vs coutume". 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 #392,404 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.