Which to use
“coarse” is an adjective and “cours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,865
- “coarse” frequency rank
- #47,550
- “cours” frequency rank
- 64415
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coarse | cours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | With a rough texture; not smooth. | three-month unit of television broadcasting corresponding to a natural season. |
Letter map: coarse vs cours
Shared letters muted; letters that set coarse and cours apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: coarse vs cours
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: coarse is anadjective and coursanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coarse is recorded at frequency rank #16,865, classified as anadj, pronounced /kɔːs/. 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 64415, this pair ranks #77,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of coarse vs cours
Shared letters: cors. Private to "coarse": ae. Private to "cours": u.
"coarse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "coarse" and "cours" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "coarse" or "cours" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "coarse" vs "cours" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "coarse" 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 #77,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coarse" 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 #77,832 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.