cuirsvscuisseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,344
“cuirs” frequency rank
#9,462
“cuisse” frequency rank
45806
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuirs cuisse
Definition Pluriel de cuir. Partie du membre inférieur allant de la hanche au genou.

Where the eye mixes cuirs and cuisse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cuirs runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against cuisse's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
cuirs
6 ch
cuisse

Why the eye confuses cuirs with cuisse

A purely visual mix-up. cuirs (\kɥiʁ\) and cuisse (\kɥis\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuirs is recorded at frequency rank #36,344, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɥiʁ\. cuisse is at rank #9,462, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɥis\.

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 45806, this pair ranks #199,890 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cuirs vs cuisse

Shared letters: cisu. Private to "cuirs": r. Private to "cuisse": e.

"cuirs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "cuisse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuirs ← ccuirs · ciurs · cuirrs · cuirss · cuisr · curis · ucirs
  • cuisse ← ccuisse · ciusse · cuise · cuises · cusise · ucisse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cuirs" for "cuisse" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɥiʁ\ versus \kɥis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cuirs" or "cuisse"?
"cuisse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,462 in our French list, against #36,344 for "cuirs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cuirs" and "cuisse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cuirs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuisse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #199,890 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cuirs" and "cuisse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciro vs cuirs". 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 #199,890 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