colovscourWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“colo” and “cour” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,066
“colo” frequency rank
#41,064
“cour” frequency rank
61130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colo cour
Definition co-location A three-month unit of television broadcasting, corresponding to one of the four seasons.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set colo and cour apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
colo
4 ch
cour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. colo (/ˈkəʊləʊ/) 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 61130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colo is recorded at frequency rank #20,066, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkəʊləʊ/. 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 61130, this pair ranks #96,031 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of colo vs cour

Shared letters: co. Private to "colo": l. Private to "cour": ru.

"colo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coloccolo · cloo · collo · oclo
  • courccour · coru · courr · cuor

Frequency comparison

colo#20,066
cour#41,064

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "colo" and "cour" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkəʊləʊ/ versus /ˈkʊə(ɹ)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "colo" or "cour"?
"colo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,066 in our English list, against #41,064 for "cour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering colo vs cour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “colo” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list