Which to use
“cousines” and “cousins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,317
- “cousines” frequency rank
- #8,222
- “cousins” frequency rank
- 34539
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cousines | cousins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cousine. | Pluriel de cousin. |
Where the eye mixes cousines and cousins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. cousines runs 8 letters (CVVCVCVC) against cousins's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cousines vs cousins
A purely visual mix-up. cousines (\ku.zin\) and cousins (\ku.zɛ̃\) 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 34539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cousines is recorded at frequency rank #26,317, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku.zin\. cousins is at rank #8,222, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.zɛ̃\.
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 34539, this pair ranks #283,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cousines vs cousins
Shared letters: cinosu. Private to "cousines": e. Private to "cousins": -.
"cousines" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC · "cousins" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cousines" and "cousins" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cousines" or "cousins"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cousines" and "cousins" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cousines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cousins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cousines" and "cousins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "consignés vs cousines". 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 #283,098 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.