côtevscoûtsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“côte” and “coûts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,288
“côte” frequency rank
#3,450
“coûts” frequency rank
4738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature côte coûts
Definition Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique. Pluriel de coût.

Where the eye mixes côte and coûts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
côte
5 ch
coûts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. côte (\kot\) and coûts (\ku\) 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 4738, 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\. coûts is at rank #3,450, 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 4738, this pair ranks #430,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of côte vs coûts

Shared letters: ct. Private to "côte": . Private to "coûts": osû.

"côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "coûts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "côte" and "coûts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kot\ versus \ku\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "côte" or "coûts"?
"côte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,288 in our French list, against #3,450 for "coûts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "côte" and "coûts". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "côte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,829 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "côte" and "coûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs coûts". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list