Which to use
“cotées” and “coulées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,817
- “cotées” frequency rank
- #26,683
- “coulées” frequency rank
- 50500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cotées | coulées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de coté. | Féminin pluriel de coulé. |
Where the eye mixes cotées and coulées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cotées runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against coulées's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cotées and coulées
A purely visual mix-up. cotées (\kɔ.te\) and coulées (\ku.le\) 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 50500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cotées is recorded at frequency rank #23,817, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.te\. coulées is at rank #26,683, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.le\.
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 50500, this pair ranks #162,162 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cotées vs coulées
Shared letters: ceosé. Private to "cotées": t. Private to "coulées": lu.
"cotées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "coulées" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cotées" for "coulées" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "cotées" or "coulées" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cotées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coulées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,162 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cotées" and "coulées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coulées vs courges". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #162,162 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.