Which to use
“cotta” is a verb and “coûts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,090
- “cotta” frequency rank
- #3,450
- “coûts” frequency rank
- 49540
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cotta | coûts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de cotter. | Pluriel de coût. |
Where the eye mixes cotta and coûts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cotta vs coûts
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cotta is \kɔ.ta\ while coûts is \ku\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49540, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cotta is recorded at frequency rank #46,090, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.ta\. coûts is at rank #3,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.
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 49540, this pair ranks #169,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cotta vs coûts
Shared letters: cot. Private to "cotta": a. Private to "coûts": sû.
"cotta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "coûts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cotta ← ccotta · cotat · ctota · octta
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cotta" and "coûts" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cotta" or "coûts"?
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 "cotta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cotta" and "coûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cotta vs coupa". 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 #169,794 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.