countvscoûtsConfusable pair

Which to use

“count” and “coûts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,263
“count” frequency rank
#3,450
“coûts” frequency rank
50713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature count coûts
Definition Compte, action de compter. Pluriel de coût.

Where the eye mixes count and coûts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
count
5 ch
coûts

Look-alike desk: count vs coûts

A purely visual mix-up. count (\kaʊnt\) and coûts (\ku\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

count is recorded at frequency rank #47,263, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaʊnt\. coûts is at rank #3,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.

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 50713, this pair ranks #160,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of count vs coûts

Shared letters: cot. Private to "count": nu. Private to "coûts": .

"count" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "coûts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • countccount · counnt · countt · coutn · cuont · ocunt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "count" for "coûts" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kaʊnt\ versus \ku\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "count" vs "coûts" - which ranks higher?
"coûts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,450 in our French list, against #47,263 for "count". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "count" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "count" and "coûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "count vs coupa". 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 #160,538 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