Which to use
“curse” and “cursor” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,351
- “curse” frequency rank
- #25,726
- “cursor” frequency rank
- 32077
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | curse | cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane. | A part of any of several scientific or measuring instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position. |
Where the eye mixes curse and cursor
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses curse with cursor
A purely visual mix-up. curse (/kɜːs/) and cursor (/ˈkɜːsə/) 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 32077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
curse is recorded at frequency rank #6,351, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɜːs/. cursor is at rank #25,726, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɜːsə/.
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 32077, this pair ranks #340,825 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of curse vs cursor
Shared letters: crsu. Private to "curse": e. Private to "cursor": o.
"curse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cursor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "curse" and "cursor" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "curse" or "cursor"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "curse" and "cursor" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "curse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cursor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,825 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "curse" and "cursor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Corso vs cursor". 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 #340,825 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.