Which to use
“coûteuse” and “coûteuses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,331
- “coûteuse” frequency rank
- #23,156
- “coûteuses” frequency rank
- 39487
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coûteuse | coûteuses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de coûteux. | Féminin pluriel de coûteux. |
Same sound, different letters: coûteuse vs coûteuses
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. coûteuse runs 8 letters (CVVCVVCV) against coûteuses's 9 (CVVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - coûteuse and coûteuses
This is the hard kind. coûteuse and coûteuses are pronounced identically (\ku.tøz\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “coûteuse” sits inside “coûteuses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coûteuse is recorded at frequency rank #16,331, classified as anadj, pronounced \ku.tøz\. coûteuses is at rank #23,156, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.tøz\.
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 39487, this pair ranks #247,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coûteuse vs coûteuses
Shared letters: ceostuû. Private to "coûteuse": -. Private to "coûteuses": -.
"coûteuse" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCV · "coûteuses" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coûteuse" for "coûteuses" ever safe?
Frequency check: "coûteuse" vs "coûteuses" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "coûteuse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûteuses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #247,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coûteuse" and "coûteuses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coûteuses vs coutumes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #247,572 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.