caussesvscoursesConfusable pair

Which to use

“causses” and “courses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,974
“causses” frequency rank
#2,568
“courses” frequency rank
51542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causses courses
Definition Pluriel de causse. Pluriel de course.

Where the eye mixes causses and courses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
causses
7 ch
courses

Visual trap between causses and courses

A purely visual mix-up. causses (\kos\) and courses (\kuʁs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

causses is recorded at frequency rank #48,974, classified as anoun, pronounced \kos\. courses is at rank #2,568, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuʁs\.

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 51542, this pair ranks #154,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of causses vs courses

Shared letters: cesu. Private to "causses": a. Private to "courses": or.

"causses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "courses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caussesacusses · casuses · causess · caussess · caussse · ccausses · cuasses
  • coursesccourses · coruses · couress · courrses · coursess · coursses · cousres · cuorses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "causses" and "courses" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kos\ versus \kuʁs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "causses" or "courses"?
"courses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,568 in our French list, against #48,974 for "causses". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "causses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "courses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "causses" and "courses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs crosses". 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 #154,237 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list