Which to use
“cous” and “cup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,734
- “cous” frequency rank
- #8,225
- “cup” frequency rank
- 46959
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cous | cup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pierre à aiguiser utilisée par les faucheurs. | Cup menstruelle. |
Where the eye mixes cous and cup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cous and cup
A purely visual mix-up. cous (\kus\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46959, 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\. 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 46959, this pair ranks #190,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cous vs cup
Shared letters: cu. Private to "cous": os. Private to "cup": p.
"cous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cup" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cous ← ccous · cosu · couss · cuos · ocus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cous" and "cup" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cous" or "cup" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cous" 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 #190,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cous" and "cup" 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 #190,702 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.