couchantvscrachantTell them apart

Quick tell: couchant is a adjective, crachant is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“couchant” is an adjective and “crachant” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,220
“couchant” frequency rank
#49,007
“crachant” frequency rank
71227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature couchant crachant
Definition Qui se couche. Participe présent de cracher.

Letter map: couchant vs crachant

Shared letters muted; letters that set couchant and crachant apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. couchant (CVVCCVCC) and crachant (CCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
couchant
8 ch
crachant

Grammar separator: couchant vs crachant

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: couchant is anadjective and crachantaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

couchant is recorded at frequency rank #22,220, classified as anadj. crachant is at rank #49,007, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁa.ʃɑ̃\.

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 71227, this pair ranks #48,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of couchant vs crachant

Shared letters: achnt. Private to "couchant": ou. Private to "crachant": r.

"couchant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC  ·  "crachant" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • couchant ← ccouchant · cocuhant · coucahnt · coucchant · couchannt · couchantt · couchatn · couchhant
  • crachant ← carchant · ccrachant · cracahnt · cracchant · crachannt · crachantt · crachatn · crachhant

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "couchant" and "crachant" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "couchant" is an adjective and "crachant" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "couchant" or "crachant" show up more?
"couchant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,220 in our French list, against #49,007 for "crachant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "couchant" vs "crachant" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "couchant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crachant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "couchant" and "crachant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crachant vs crachats". 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 #48,360 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