coupéevscoupezWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,633
“coupée” frequency rank
#17,665
“coupez” frequency rank
27298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coupée coupez
Definition Coupure du pont d’un navire de commerce dont l’arrière est exhaussé pour donner aux cabines plus d’élévation. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de couper.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set coupée and coupez apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
coupée
6 ch
coupez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: coupée and coupez carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ku.pe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coupée is recorded at frequency rank #9,633, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku.pe\. coupez is at rank #17,665, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.pe\.

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 27298, this pair ranks #329,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coupée vs coupez

Shared letters: ceopu. Private to "coupée": é. Private to "coupez": z.

"coupée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "coupez" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coupezccoupez · copuez · couepz · coupezz · couppez · coupze · cuopez · ocupez

Frequency comparison

coupée#9,633
coupez#17,665

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coupée" and "coupez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coupée" is a noun and "coupez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "coupée" or "coupez"?
"coupée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,633 in our French list, against #17,665 for "coupez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering coupée vs coupez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “coupée”; for a verb, it's “coupez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “coupée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list