coûtvscoûtsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“coût” and “coûts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,767
“coût” frequency rank
#3,450
“coûts” frequency rank
5217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coût coûts
Definition Ce qu’une chose coûte ; son prix de revient. Pluriel de coût.

Same sound, different letters: coût vs coûts

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

4 ch
coût
5 ch
coûts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. coût and coûts are pronounced identically (\ku\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “coût” sits inside “coûts”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5217, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coût is recorded at frequency rank #1,767, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku\. coûts is at rank #3,450, 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 5217, this pair ranks #429,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coût vs coûts

Shared letters: cotû. Private to "coût": -. Private to "coûts": s.

"coût" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "coûts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coût" and "coûts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ku\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "coût" or "coûts"?
"coût" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,767 in our French list, against #3,450 for "coûts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "coût" and "coûts". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coût" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coût" and "coûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs coûts". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list