côtoievscroieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,109
“côtoie” frequency rank
#23,159
“croie” frequency rank
43268
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature côtoie croie
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de côtoyer. Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de croire.

Where the eye mixes côtoie and croie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
côtoie
5 ch
croie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. côtoie (\ko.twa\) and croie (\kʁwa\) 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 43268, 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\. croie is at rank #23,159, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁwa\.

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 43268, this pair ranks #219,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of côtoie vs croie

Shared letters: ceio. Private to "côtoie": . Private to "croie": r.

"côtoie" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "croie" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • croieccroie · corie · crioe · croei · crroie · rcoie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "côtoie" and "croie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ko.twa\ versus \kʁwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "côtoie" or "croie"?
"côtoie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,109 in our French list, against #23,159 for "croie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list