Which to use
“courtesy” is a noun and “Courtney” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,778
- “courtesy” frequency rank
- #11,856
- “Courtney” frequency rank
- 17634
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courtesy | Courtney |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Polite behavior. | A surname from Old French. |
Where the eye mixes courtesy and Courtney
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. courtesy (CVVCCVCV) and Courtney (CVVCCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between courtesy and Courtney
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courtesy is /ˈkɜːtəsi/ while Courtney is /ˈkɔː(ɹ)tni/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courtesy is recorded at frequency rank #5,778, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɜːtəsi/. Courtney is at rank #11,856, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈkɔː(ɹ)tni/.
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 17634, this pair ranks #450,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of courtesy vs Courtney
Shared letters: ceortuy. Private to "courtesy": s. Private to "Courtney": n.
"courtesy" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV · "Courtney" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courtesy" for "Courtney" ever safe?
Frequency check: "courtesy" vs "Courtney" - which ranks higher?
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 "courtesy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Courtney" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #450,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courtesy" and "Courtney" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courtly vs Courtney". 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 #450,157 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.