Which to use
“cul” and “cuve” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #999
- “cul” frequency rank
- #14,006
- “cuve” frequency rank
- 15005
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cul | cuve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Derrière d’un animal, d’un humain, ses fesses, son postérieur. | Grand récipient de bois, de métal ou de maçonnerie dont on se sert ordinairement pour fouler la vendange ou pour y laisser fermenter le vin nouveau avec la grappe, pour faire de la bière et pour divers autres usages. |
Where the eye mixes cul and cuve
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cul and cuve
A purely visual mix-up. cul (\ky\) and cuve (\kyv\) 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 15005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cul is recorded at frequency rank #999, classified as anoun, pronounced \ky\. cuve is at rank #14,006, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kyv\.
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 15005, this pair ranks #394,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cul vs cuve
Shared letters: cu. Private to "cul": l. Private to "cuve": ev.
"cul" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "cuve" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cuve ← ccuve · cuev · cuvve · cvue · ucve
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cul" for "cuve" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cul" vs "cuve" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cul" and "cuve" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cuve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cul" and "cuve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs cuve". 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 #394,277 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.