cours

\kuʁ\

/\kuʁ\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“cours” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #202 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#202
frequency rank, French
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et …

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

cours vs CRS
0% similar
cours vs coût
40% similar
cours vs cure
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for cours
PropertyValue
Headwordcours
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kuʁ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#202
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “cours” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). cours lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for cours is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kuʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #202 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 26 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for cours, with forms such as "ccours", "corus", and "courrs". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CRS", "coût", "cure", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is cours, spelled C-O-U-R-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et …
  2. 2
    Flux, étendue parcourue par l’eau des fleuves, des rivières et des ruisseaux. → voir cours d’eau
  3. 3
    Circulation d’un liquide canalisé dans un circuit.
  4. 4
    Mouvement, course réel ou apparent des astres.
  5. 5
    Étendue de certaines choses continues.
  6. 6
    Longueur.
  7. 7
    Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans le temps. → voir au cours de, en cours et cours de ventre, etc.
  8. 8
    Durée. → voir cours de la lune
  9. 9
    Continuité.
  10. 10
    Conséquence logique, naturelle normalement attendue ou prévisible.
  11. 11
    Mouvement d’écoulement naturel à la fois dans l’espace et dans le temps. → voir suivre son cours, parcours et …
  12. 12
    Développement, enchaînement, direction que prennent certaines choses, ou qu’on leur donne.
  13. 13
    Déroulement d’une histoire.
  14. 14
    Suivi d’une affaire.
  15. 15
    Conséquence prévisible.
  16. 16
    Période globale consacrée à une matière. → voir cours de langue et …
  17. 17
    Contenu enseigné pendant cette période.
  18. 18
    Traité, publication, ouvrage consacré(e) à un enseignement.
  19. 19
    Validité à un instant donné. → voir cours au comptant, cours de change à terme, cours de la bourse et …
  20. 20
    Se dit des écrits ou idées qui circulent.
  21. 21
    Crédit donné à ces écrits ou idées
  22. 22
    Alignement, enchainement continu d’éléments. → voir cours d’assise, cours de pannes, cours de plinthe, discours et …
  23. 23
    Promenade publique, située dans la ville ou à proximité, ordinairement plantée d’arbres, et qui s’étend plus en longueur qu’en largeur.
  24. 24
    Rotation des plantations.
  25. 25
    Allée et venue de la navette, dans les fabriques de soie. — (« cours », dans Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877 → consulter cet ouvrage)
  26. 26
    Action de courir.

Synonyms

fil

This word in other languages

course(English)curso(Español)Kurs(Deutsch)aula(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccours,corus,courrs,courss,cousr,cuors,ocurs

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cours - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccours1corus2courrs1courss1cousr2cuors2ocurs2
Edit distance from "cours"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cours"?
"cours" is spelled C-O-U-R-S. The IPA pronunciation is \kuʁ\.
What does "cours" mean?
As a noun, "cours" means: Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et …
What words are commonly confused with "cours"?
"cours" is commonly confused with "CRS", "coût", "cure". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cours"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cours" is \kuʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cours" come from?
"cours" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “cours”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is C-O-U-R-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \kuʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “CRS” - see the side-by-side comparison. cours vs CRS
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list