Which to use
“cousins” and “coussin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,222
- “cousins” frequency rank
- #14,649
- “coussin” frequency rank
- 22871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cousins | coussin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cousin. | Sorte de sac cousu de tous les côtés composé de tissu ou de cuir et rempli de plume, de bourre ou de crin, etc., pour s’appuyer, pour s’asseoir, pour poser les pieds ou bien simplement pour décorer. |
Where the eye mixes cousins and coussin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cousins (CVVCVCC) and coussin (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: cousins vs coussin
A purely visual mix-up. cousins (\ku.zɛ̃\) and coussin (\ku.sɛ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cousins is recorded at frequency rank #8,222, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku.zɛ̃\. coussin is at rank #14,649, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.sɛ̃\.
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 22871, this pair ranks #355,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cousins vs coussin
Shared letters: cinosu. Private to "cousins": -. Private to "coussin": -.
"cousins" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "coussin" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cousins" for "coussin" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cousins" or "coussin"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cousins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coussin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #355,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cousins" and "coussin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courson vs coussin". 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 #355,670 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.