Which to use
“coli” and “cour” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,590
- “coli” frequency rank
- #41,064
- “cour” frequency rank
- 61654
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coli | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Escherichia coli, a Gram-negative bacterium commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms. | A three-month unit of television broadcasting, corresponding to one of the four seasons. |
Where the eye mixes coli and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. coli (CVCV) and cour (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: coli vs cour
A purely visual mix-up. coli (/ˈkoʊ.laɪ/) and cour (/ˈkʊə(ɹ)/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coli is recorded at frequency rank #20,590, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkoʊ.laɪ/. cour is at rank #41,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʊə(ɹ)/.
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 61654, this pair ranks #92,984 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of coli vs cour
Shared letters: co. Private to "coli": il. Private to "cour": ru.
"coli" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "coli" and "cour" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "coli" or "cour"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coli" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,984 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coli" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cour vs cower". 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 #92,984 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.