Which to use
“coucher” is a verb and “counter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,271
- “coucher” frequency rank
- #35,451
- “counter” frequency rank
- 37722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coucher | counter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Étendre de son long sur la terre, sur un lit, etc., mettre quelque chose en position horizontale. | Guichet. |
Where the eye mixes coucher and counter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. coucher and counter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: coucher vs counter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coucher is \ku.ʃe\ while counter is \ˈkaʊn.tə(ɹ)\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coucher is recorded at frequency rank #2,271, classified as averb, pronounced \ku.ʃe\. counter is at rank #35,451, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkaʊn.tə(ɹ)\.
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 37722, this pair ranks #260,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coucher vs counter
Shared letters: ceoru. Private to "coucher": h. Private to "counter": nt.
"coucher" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "counter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coucher" and "counter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "coucher" vs "counter" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coucher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "counter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coucher" and "counter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "count vs counter". 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 #260,418 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.