Which to use
“cœur” is a noun and “couru” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #552
- “cœur” frequency rank
- #9,459
- “couru” frequency rank
- 10011
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cœur | couru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Organe musculaire, creux et pulsatile assurant la circulation sanguine dans le corps humain ou animal. | Fréquenté. |
Where the eye mixes cœur and couru
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cœur runs 4 letters (CVVC) against couru's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cœur vs couru
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cœur is \kœʁ\ while couru is \ku.ʁy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cœur is recorded at frequency rank #552, classified as anoun, pronounced \kœʁ\. couru is at rank #9,459, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.ʁy\.
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 10011, this pair ranks #414,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cœur vs couru
Shared letters: cru. Private to "cœur": œ. Private to "couru": o.
"cœur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "couru" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- couru ← ccouru · coruu · courru · couur · cuoru · ocuru
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cœur" for "couru" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cœur" vs "couru" - 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 "cœur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cœur" and "couru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs couru". 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 #414,562 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.