Which to use
“côte” and “coup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,288
- “côte” frequency rank
- #226
- “coup” frequency rank
- 1514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | côte | coup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique. | Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant. |
Where the eye mixes côte and coup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. côte (CVCV) and coup (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: côte vs coup
A purely visual mix-up. côte (\kot\) and coup (\ku\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1514, 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\. coup is at rank #226, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.
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 1514, this pair ranks #437,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of côte vs coup
Shared letters: c. Private to "côte": etô. Private to "coup": opu.
"côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "coup" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- coup ← ccoup · copu · coupp · cuop · ocup
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "côte" and "coup" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "côte" vs "coup" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "côte" and "coup" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "côte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "côte" and "coup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs côte". 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 #437,915 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.