Which to use
“chums” and “cours” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,980
- “chums” frequency rank
- #47,550
- “cours” frequency rank
- 94530
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chums | cours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of chum | three-month unit of television broadcasting corresponding to a natural season. |
Letter map: chums vs cours
Shared letters muted; letters that set chums and cours apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. chums (CCVCC) and cours (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Pair insight - chums / cours
chums and cours are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chums is recorded at frequency rank #46,980, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃʌmz/. cours is at rank #47,550, tagged as anoun.
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 94530, this pair ranks #1,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of chums vs cours
Shared letters: csu. Private to "chums": hm. Private to "cours": or.
"chums" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chums" and "cours" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "chums" or "cours"?
What to do next
Pair "chums" vs "cours" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "chums" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chums" and "cours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cours vs Coutts". 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 #1,330 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.