Which to use
“couché” is an adjective and “couchée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,487
- “couché” frequency rank
- #17,398
- “couchée” frequency rank
- 23885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | couché | couchée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Allongé sur un lit, généralement pour dormir. | Lieu où on loge la nuit en faisant voyage. |
Same sound, different letters: couché vs couchée
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. couché runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against couchée's 7 (CVVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - couché / couchée
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: couché and couchée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ku.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “couché” sits inside “couchée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
couché is recorded at frequency rank #6,487, classified as anadj, pronounced \ku.ʃe\. couchée is at rank #17,398, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.ʃe\.
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 23885, this pair ranks #349,884 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of couché vs couchée
Shared letters: choué. Private to "couché": -. Private to "couchée": e.
"couché" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "couchée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "couché" and "couchée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "couché" or "couchée" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "couché" / "couchée". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "couché" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couchée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,884 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "couché" and "couchée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coaches vs couchée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #349,884 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.