Which to use
“coups” and “cup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,227
- “coups” frequency rank
- #8,225
- “cup” frequency rank
- 9452
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coups | cup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de coup. | Cup menstruelle. |
Where the eye mixes coups and cup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between coups and cup
A purely visual mix-up. coups (\ku\) and cup (\kœp\) 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 9452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coups is recorded at frequency rank #1,227, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku\. cup is at rank #8,225, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kœp\.
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 9452, this pair ranks #416,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coups vs cup
Shared letters: cpu. Private to "coups": os. Private to "cup": -.
"coups" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "cup" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- coups ← ccoups · copus · coupps · coupss · cousp · cuops · ocups
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coups" and "cup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "coups" or "cup" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coups" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coups" and "cup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs cup". 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 #416,587 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.