Which to use
“coursing” is a noun and “cussing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,073
- “coursing” frequency rank
- #44,148
- “cussing” frequency rank
- 86221
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coursing | cussing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The sport of chasing wild animals, especially hares, with dogs by sight rather than by scent. | present participle and gerund of cuss |
Letter map: coursing vs cussing
Shared letters muted; letters that set coursing and cussing apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. coursing runs 8 letters (CVVCCVCC) against cussing's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: coursing vs cussing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: coursing is anoun and cussingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coursing is recorded at frequency rank #42,073, classified as anoun. cussing is at rank #44,148, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkʌsɪŋ/.
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 86221, this pair ranks #9,255 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of coursing vs cussing
Shared letters: cginsu. Private to "coursing": or. Private to "cussing": -.
"coursing" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "cussing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coursing" and "cussing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "coursing" or "cussing" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "coursing" and "cussing".
- Full dictionary entry for "coursing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cussing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,255 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coursing" and "cussing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cupping vs cussing". 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 #9,255 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.