Which to use
“coûte” and “coûtent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,915
- “coûte” frequency rank
- #12,137
- “coûtent” frequency rank
- 15052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coûte | coûtent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de coûter. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe coûter. |
Same sound, different letters: coûte vs coûtent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. coûte runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against coûtent's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: coûte vs coûtent
This is the hard kind. coûte and coûtent are pronounced identically (\kut\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “coûte” sits inside “coûtent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coûte is recorded at frequency rank #2,915, classified as averb, pronounced \kut\. coûtent is at rank #12,137, tagged as averb, pronounced \kut\.
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 15052, this pair ranks #394,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coûte vs coûtent
Shared letters: ceotû. Private to "coûte": -. Private to "coûtent": n.
"coûte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "coûtent" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coûte" for "coûtent" ever safe?
Which is more common, "coûte" or "coûtent"?
Useful next steps
"coûte" and "coûtent" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "coûte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûtent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coûte" and "coûtent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "count vs coûtent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #394,077 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.