coupvscruzConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#226
“coup” frequency rank
#13,559
“cruz” frequency rank
13785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coup cruz
Definition Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant. Croix.

Where the eye mixes coup and cruz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
coup
4 ch
cruz

Why the eye confuses coup with cruz

A purely visual mix-up. coup (\ku\) and cruz (\kɾuθ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coup is recorded at frequency rank #226, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku\. cruz is at rank #13,559, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɾuθ\.

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 13785, this pair ranks #399,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coup vs cruz

Shared letters: cu. Private to "coup": op. Private to "cruz": rz.

"coup" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "cruz" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coupccoup · copu · coupp · cuop · ocup
  • cruzccruz · crruz · cruzz · crzu · curz · rcuz

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coup" for "cruz" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ku\ versus \kɾuθ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "coup" or "cruz" show up more?
"coup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #226 in our French list, against #13,559 for "cruz". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coup" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cruz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #399,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coup" and "cruz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crau vs cruz". 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 #399,544 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