Which to use
“côtes” and “cultes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,395
- “côtes” frequency rank
- #10,480
- “cultes” frequency rank
- 13875
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | côtes | cultes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de côte. | Pluriel de culte. |
Where the eye mixes côtes and cultes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. côtes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against cultes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: côtes vs cultes
A purely visual mix-up. côtes (\kot\) and cultes (\kylt\) 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 13875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
côtes is recorded at frequency rank #3,395, classified as anoun, pronounced \kot\. cultes is at rank #10,480, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kylt\.
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 13875, this pair ranks #399,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of côtes vs cultes
Shared letters: cest. Private to "côtes": ô. Private to "cultes": lu.
"côtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cultes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cultes ← ccultes · clutes · culets · culltes · cultess · cultse · culttes · cutles
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "côtes" and "cultes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "côtes" vs "cultes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "côtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cultes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "côtes" and "cultes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cultes vs cuvées". 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 #399,182 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.