couplevscousueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,058
“couple” frequency rank
#39,728
“cousue” frequency rank
40786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature couple cousue
Definition Lien ; laisse. Cigarette industrielle, déjà roulée, par opposition à celle que l’on roule soi-même.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set couple and cousue apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
couple
6 ch
cousue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. couple (\kupl\) and cousue (\ku.zy\) 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 40786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

couple is recorded at frequency rank #1,058, classified as anoun, pronounced \kupl\. cousue is at rank #39,728, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.zy\.

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 40786, this pair ranks #237,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of couple vs cousue

Shared letters: ceou. Private to "couple": lp. Private to "cousue": s.

"couple" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "cousue" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coupleccouple · copule · coulpe · coupel · couplle · coupple · cuople · ocuple
  • cousueccousue · cosuue · couseu · coussue · couuse · cuosue · ocusue

Frequency comparison

couple#1,058
cousue#39,728

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "couple" and "cousue" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kupl\ versus \ku.zy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "couple" or "cousue"?
"couple" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,058 in our French list, against #39,728 for "cousue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering couple vs cousue

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “couple” 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