Which to use
“côtoie” is a verb and “coton” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,109
- “côtoie” frequency rank
- #6,074
- “coton” frequency rank
- 26183
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | côtoie | coton |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de côtoyer. | Fibre textile végétale, issue de la bourre composée de filaments longs, fins, soyeux, qui enveloppe les graines du cotonnier. |
Where the eye mixes côtoie and coton
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: côtoie vs coton
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: côtoie is \ko.twa\ while coton is \kɔ.tɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26183, 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\. coton is at rank #6,074, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.tɔ̃\.
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 26183, this pair ranks #336,643 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of côtoie vs coton
Shared letters: cot. Private to "côtoie": eiô. Private to "coton": n.
"côtoie" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "coton" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- coton ← ccoton · cootn · cotno · cotonn · ctoon · octon
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "côtoie" for "coton" ever safe?
Frequency check: "côtoie" vs "coton" - which ranks higher?
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 "côtoie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coton" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,643 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "côtoie" and "coton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "côtoie vs cotons". 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 #336,643 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.