Which to use
“courier” and “courtier” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,526
- “courier” frequency rank
- #44,714
- “courtier” frequency rank
- 56240
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courier | courtier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who delivers messages. | A person in attendance at a royal court. |
Where the eye mixes courier and courtier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. courier runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against courtier's 8 (CVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses courier with courtier
A purely visual mix-up. courier (/ˈkʊ.ɹi.ə/) and courtier (/ˈkɔɹtiɚ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56240, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courier is recorded at frequency rank #11,526, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʊ.ɹi.ə/. courtier is at rank #44,714, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔɹtiɚ/.
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 56240, this pair ranks #127,708 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of courier vs courtier
Shared letters: ceioru. Private to "courier": -. Private to "courtier": t.
"courier" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "courtier" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "courier" and "courtier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "courier" or "courtier" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "courier" and "courtier" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "courier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courtier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #127,708 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courier" and "courtier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courtier vs courtiers". 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 #127,708 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.