coudrevscoupeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

“coudre” is a verb and “coupe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,451
“coudre” frequency rank
#668
“coupe” frequency rank
19119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coudre coupe
Definition Assembler deux ou plusieurs objets avec un fil passé dans une aiguille ou un autre instrument semblable. Action de couper.

Where the eye mixes coudre and coupe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
coudre
5 ch
coupe

Visual trap between coudre and coupe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coudre is \kudʁ\ while coupe is \kup\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coudre is recorded at frequency rank #18,451, classified as averb, pronounced \kudʁ\. coupe is at rank #668, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kup\.

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 19119, this pair ranks #374,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coudre vs coupe

Shared letters: ceou. Private to "coudre": dr. Private to "coupe": p.

"coudre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "coupe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coudreccoudre · codure · couddre · couder · coudrre · courde · cuodre · ocudre
  • coupeccoupe · copue · couep · couppe · cuope · ocupe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coudre" and "coupe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coudre" is a verb and "coupe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "coudre" vs "coupe" - which ranks higher?
"coupe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #668 in our French list, against #18,451 for "coudre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "coudre" and "coupe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coudre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coupe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #374,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coudre" and "coupe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs coudre". 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 #374,904 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list