côtevscotéesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: côte is a noun, cotées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“côte” is a noun and “cotées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,288
“côte” frequency rank
#23,817
“cotées” frequency rank
25105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature côte cotées
Definition Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique. Féminin pluriel de coté.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set côte and cotées apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
côte
6 ch
cotées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: côte is \kot\ while cotées is \kɔ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

côte is recorded at frequency rank #1,288, classified as anoun, pronounced \kot\. cotées is at rank #23,817, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.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 25105, this pair ranks #342,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of côte vs cotées

Shared letters: cet. Private to "côte": ô. Private to "cotées": osé.

"côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cotées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequency comparison

côte#1,288
cotées#23,817

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "côte" and "cotées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "côte" is a noun and "cotées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "côte" or "cotées"?
"côte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,288 in our French list, against #23,817 for "cotées". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering côte vs cotées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “côte”; for an adjective, it's “cotées”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “côte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list