Which to use
“cous” and “CSS” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,734
- “cous” frequency rank
- #18,705
- “CSS” frequency rank
- 57439
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cous | CSS |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pierre à aiguiser utilisée par les faucheurs. | Séquence d’instructions de rendu visuel, auditif ou tactile d’une ressource HTML ou XML. |
Where the eye mixes cous and CSS
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cous and CSS
A purely visual mix-up. cous (\kus\) and CSS (\se ɛ.s‿ɛs\) 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 57439, 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\. CSS is at rank #18,705, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se ɛ.s‿ɛs\.
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 57439, this pair ranks #115,042 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cous vs CSS
Shared letters: cs. Private to "cous": ou. Private to "CSS": -.
"cous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "CSS" · 3 letters · shape CCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cous ← ccous · cosu · couss · cuos · ocus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cous" for "CSS" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cous" vs "CSS" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "CSS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,042 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cous" and "CSS" 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 #115,042 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.