Which to use
“couchée” is a noun and “coucher” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,398
- “couchée” frequency rank
- #2,271
- “coucher” frequency rank
- 19669
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | couchée | coucher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lieu où on loge la nuit en faisant voyage. | Étendre de son long sur la terre, sur un lit, etc., mettre quelque chose en position horizontale. |
Same sound, different letters: couchée vs coucher
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. couchée (CVVCCVV) and coucher (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: couchée vs coucher
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: couchée and coucher carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ku.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
couchée is recorded at frequency rank #17,398, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku.ʃe\. coucher is at rank #2,271, tagged as averb, 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 19669, this pair ranks #372,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of couchée vs coucher
Shared letters: cehou. Private to "couchée": é. Private to "coucher": r.
"couchée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV · "coucher" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- coucher ← ccoucher · cocuher · couccher · coucehr · coucherr · couchher · couchre · couhcer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "couchée" for "coucher" ever safe?
Frequency check: "couchée" vs "coucher" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "couchée" / "coucher". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "couchée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coucher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "couchée" and "coucher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coaches vs couchée". 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 #372,131 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.