cottavscrotteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cotta is a verb, crotte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cotta” is a verb and “crotte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,090
“cotta” frequency rank
#22,221
“crotte” frequency rank
68311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cotta crotte
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de cotter. Fiente, en forme de boulettes, de certains animaux.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cotta and crotte apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cotta
6 ch
crotte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cotta is \kɔ.ta\ while crotte is \kʁɔt\. 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 68311, 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\. crotte is at rank #22,221, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔt\.

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 68311, this pair ranks #59,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cotta vs crotte

Shared letters: cot. Private to "cotta": a. Private to "crotte": er.

"cotta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "crotte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cottaccotta · cotat · ctota · octta
  • crotteccrotte · cortte · crote · crotet · crrotte · crtote · rcotte

Frequency comparison

cotta#46,090
crotte#22,221

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cotta" and "crotte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cotta" is a verb and "crotte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cotta" or "crotte"?
"crotte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,221 in our French list, against #46,090 for "cotta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cotta vs crotte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “cotta”; for a noun, it's “crotte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cotta” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list