Which to use
“couchent” and “coûtent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,758
- “couchent” frequency rank
- #12,137
- “coûtent” frequency rank
- 39895
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | couchent | coûtent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de coucher. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe coûter. |
Where the eye mixes couchent and coûtent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. couchent runs 8 letters (CVVCCVCC) against coûtent's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: couchent vs coûtent
A purely visual mix-up. couchent (\kuʃ\) and coûtent (\kut\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39895, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
couchent is recorded at frequency rank #27,758, classified as averb, pronounced \kuʃ\. coûtent is at rank #12,137, tagged as averb, pronounced \kut\.
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 39895, this pair ranks #244,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of couchent vs coûtent
Shared letters: cenot. Private to "couchent": hu. Private to "coûtent": û.
"couchent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "coûtent" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- couchent ← ccouchent · cocuhent · coucchent · coucehnt · couchennt · couchentt · couchetn · couchhent
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "couchent" for "coûtent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "couchent" or "coûtent" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "couchent" and "coûtent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "couchent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûtent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "couchent" and "coûtent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cochet vs couchent". 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 #244,541 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.