Which to use
“coûtent” is a verb and “couvents” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,137
- “coûtent” frequency rank
- #31,425
- “couvents” frequency rank
- 43562
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coûtent | couvents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe coûter. | Pluriel de couvent. |
Where the eye mixes coûtent and couvents
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. coûtent runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against couvents's 8 (CVVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between coûtent and couvents
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coûtent is \kut\ while couvents is \ku.vɑ̃\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coûtent is recorded at frequency rank #12,137, classified as averb, pronounced \kut\. couvents is at rank #31,425, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku.vɑ̃\.
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 43562, this pair ranks #217,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coûtent vs couvents
Shared letters: cenot. Private to "coûtent": û. Private to "couvents": suv.
"coûtent" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "couvents" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- couvents ← ccouvents · couevnts · couvennts · couvenst · couventss · couventts · couvetns · couvnets
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "coûtent" and "couvents" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "coûtent" or "couvents"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coûtent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couvents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #217,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coûtent" and "couvents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "convenus vs couvents". 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 #217,109 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.