cousuvscoûtWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cousu is a adjective, coût is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cousu” is an adjective and “coût” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,963
“cousu” frequency rank
#1,767
“coût” frequency rank
32730
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cousu coût
Definition Lié par une couture. Ce qu’une chose coûte ; son prix de revient.

Where the eye mixes cousu and coût

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cousu
4 ch
coût

Visual trap between cousu and coût

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cousu is \ku.zy\ while coût is \ku\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cousu is recorded at frequency rank #30,963, classified as anadj, pronounced \ku.zy\. coût is at rank #1,767, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.

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 32730, this pair ranks #295,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cousu vs coût

Shared letters: co. Private to "cousu": su. Private to "coût": .

"cousu" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "coût" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cousuccousu · cosuu · coussu · couus · cuosu · ocusu

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cousu" and "coût" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cousu" is an adjective and "coût" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cousu" or "coût"?
"coût" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,767 in our French list, against #30,963 for "cousu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cousu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coût" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cousu" and "coût" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs cousu". 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 #295,318 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list