cordsvscoursConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,281
“cords” frequency rank
#47,550
“cours” frequency rank
65831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cords cours
Definition plural of cord three-month unit of television broadcasting corresponding to a natural season.

Letter map: cords vs cours

Shared letters muted; letters that set cords and cours apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
cords
5 ch
cours

Corpus notes: cords and cours

cords 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 65831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cords is recorded at frequency rank #18,281, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɔːdz/. 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 65831, this pair ranks #70,856 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cords vs cours

Shared letters: cors. Private to "cords": d. Private to "cours": u.

"cords" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cordsccords · codrs · cordds · cordss · corrds · corsd · crods · ocrds
  • coursccours · corus · courrs · courss · cousr · cuors

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cords" and "cours" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "cords" or "cours"?
"cords" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,281 in our English list, against #47,550 for "cours". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "cords" and "cours". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cords" 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 #70,856 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cords" 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 #70,856 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list