couchéevscoucherWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: couchée is a noun, coucher is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set couchée and coucher apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
couchée
7 ch
coucher

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • coucherccoucher · cocuher · couccher · coucehr · coucherr · couchher · couchre · couhcer

Frequency comparison

couchée#17,398
coucher#2,271

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "couchée" and "coucher" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "couchée" is a noun and "coucher" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "couchée" or "coucher"?
"coucher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,271 in our French list, against #17,398 for "couchée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering couchée vs coucher

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “couchée”; for a verb, it's “coucher”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “couchée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list