cottevscuiteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,365
“cotte” frequency rank
#9,301
“cuite” frequency rank
52666
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cotte cuite
Definition Jupe. Sorte de cuisson donnée à la porcelaine, aux briques, au plâtre, etc.

Where the eye mixes cotte and cuite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cotte (CVCCV) and cuite (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
cotte
5 ch
cuite

Look-alike desk: cotte vs cuite

A purely visual mix-up. cotte (\kɔt\) and cuite (\kɥit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cotte is recorded at frequency rank #43,365, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔt\. cuite is at rank #9,301, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɥit\.

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 52666, this pair ranks #146,101 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cotte vs cuite

Shared letters: cet. Private to "cotte": o. Private to "cuite": iu.

"cotte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cuite" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cotte ← ccotte · cotet · ctote · octte
  • cuite ← ccuite · ciute · cuiet · cuitte · cutie · ucite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cotte" for "cuite" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔt\ versus \kɥit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cotte" vs "cuite" - which ranks higher?
"cuite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,301 in our French list, against #43,365 for "cotte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "cotte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #146,101 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cotte" and "cuite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cosette vs cotte". 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 #146,101 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list