Which to use
“cous” and “CROUS” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,734
- “cous” frequency rank
- #23,502
- “CROUS” frequency rank
- 62236
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cous | CROUS |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pierre à aiguiser utilisée par les faucheurs. | Organisme chargé des œuvres sociales, de l’hébergement et de la restauration des étudiants. |
Where the eye mixes cous and CROUS
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cous runs 4 letters (CVVC) against CROUS's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cous vs CROUS
A purely visual mix-up. cous (\kus\) and CROUS (\kʁus\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62236, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cous is recorded at frequency rank #38,734, classified as anoun, pronounced \kus\. CROUS is at rank #23,502, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁus\.
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 62236, this pair ranks #88,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cous vs CROUS
Shared letters: cosu. Private to "cous": -. Private to "CROUS": r.
"cous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "CROUS" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cous" for "CROUS" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cous" vs "CROUS" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "CROUS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cous" and "CROUS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs cous". 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 #88,160 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.