Which to use
“coupe” is a noun and “coûter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #668
- “coupe” frequency rank
- #8,089
- “coûter” frequency rank
- 8757
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coupe | coûter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de couper. | Valoir tel ou tel prix d’achat. |
Where the eye mixes coupe and coûter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: coupe vs coûter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coupe is \kup\ while coûter is \ku.te\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coupe is recorded at frequency rank #668, classified as anoun, pronounced \kup\. coûter is at rank #8,089, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.te\.
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 8757, this pair ranks #418,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coupe vs coûter
Shared letters: ceo. Private to "coupe": pu. Private to "coûter": rtû.
"coupe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "coûter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- coupe ← ccoupe · copue · couep · couppe · cuope · ocupe
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coupe" for "coûter" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "coupe" or "coûter" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "coupe" and "coûter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "coupe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coupe" and "coûter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courber vs coûter". 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 #418,945 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.