couvscoxWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,063
“cou” frequency rank
#19,493
“cox” frequency rank
22556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cou cox
Definition Partie du corps qui joint la tête aux épaules. Variété de pommier.

Where the eye mixes cou and cox

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
cou
3 ch
cox

Visual trap between cou and cox

A purely visual mix-up. cou (\ku\) and cox (\koks\) 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 a single letter - u in “cou” becomes x in “cox”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cou is recorded at frequency rank #3,063, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku\. cox is at rank #19,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced \koks\.

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 22556, this pair ranks #357,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cou vs cox

Shared letters: co. Private to "cou": u. Private to "cox": x.

"cou" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "cox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cou" and "cox" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ku\ versus \koks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cou" or "cox"?
"cou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,063 in our French list, against #19,493 for "cox". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #357,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cou" and "cox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #357,353 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