Which to use
“course” and “courts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #343
- “course” frequency rank
- #3,224
- “courts” frequency rank
- 3567
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | course | courts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A sequence of events. | plural of court |
Where the eye mixes course and courts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between course and courts
A purely visual mix-up. course (/kɔːs/) and courts (/kɔɹts/) 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 3567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
course is recorded at frequency rank #343, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɔːs/. courts is at rank #3,224, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔɹts/.
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 3567, this pair ranks #521,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of course vs courts
Shared letters: corsu. Private to "course": e. Private to "courts": t.
"course" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "courts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "course" and "courts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "course" or "courts" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "course" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #521,728 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "course" and "courts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courts 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 #521,728 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.