coupesvscoupuresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,235
“coupes” frequency rank
#11,555
“coupures” frequency rank
16790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coupes coupures
Definition Pluriel de coupe. Pluriel de coupure.

Where the eye mixes coupes and coupures

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. coupes runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against coupures's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
coupes
8 ch
coupures

Why the eye confuses coupes with coupures

A purely visual mix-up. coupes (\kup\) and coupures (\ku.pyʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coupes is recorded at frequency rank #5,235, classified as anoun, pronounced \kup\. coupures is at rank #11,555, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.pyʁ\.

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 16790, this pair ranks #386,230 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coupes vs coupures

Shared letters: ceopsu. Private to "coupes": -. Private to "coupures": r.

"coupes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "coupures" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coupes ← ccoupes · copues · coueps · coupess · couppes · coupse · cuopes · ocupes
  • coupures ← ccoupures · copuures · couppures · couprues · coupuers · coupuress · coupurres · coupurse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coupes" and "coupures" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kup\ versus \ku.pyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "coupes" vs "coupures" - which ranks higher?
"coupes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,235 in our French list, against #11,555 for "coupures". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coupes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coupures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #386,230 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coupes" and "coupures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupoles vs coupures". 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 #386,230 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