Which to use
“cer” and “cour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,052
- “cer” frequency rank
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- 46721
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cer | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ciel. | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. |
Where the eye mixes cer and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cer runs 3 letters (CVC) against cour's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cer and cour
A purely visual mix-up. cer (\ˈʧeɾ\) and cour (\kuʁ\) 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 46721, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cer is recorded at frequency rank #46,052, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈʧeɾ\. cour is at rank #669, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ\.
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 46721, this pair ranks #192,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cer vs cour
Shared letters: cr. Private to "cer": e. Private to "cour": ou.
"cer" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cour ← ccour · coru · courr · cuor · ocur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cer" for "cour" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cer" vs "cour" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cer" and "cour" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #192,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cer" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cer vs ciro". 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 #192,653 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.