Which to use
“côtoie” and “côtoient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,109
- “côtoie” frequency rank
- #21,904
- “côtoient” frequency rank
- 42013
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | côtoie | côtoient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de côtoyer. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de côtoyer. |
Same sound, different letters: côtoie vs côtoient
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
This is the hard kind. côtoie and côtoient are pronounced identically (\ko.twa\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “côtoie” sits inside “côtoient”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
côtoie is recorded at frequency rank #20,109, classified as averb, pronounced \ko.twa\. côtoient is at rank #21,904, tagged as averb, pronounced \ko.twa\.
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 42013, this pair ranks #228,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of côtoie vs côtoient
Shared letters: ceiotô. Private to "côtoie": -. Private to "côtoient": n.
"côtoie" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "côtoient" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC