Which to use
“chœur” and “cour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,357
- “chœur” frequency rank
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- 9026
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chœur | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troupe de gens qui chantent ensemble. | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. |
Where the eye mixes chœur and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. chœur runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against cour's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between chœur and cour
A purely visual mix-up. chœur (\kœʁ\) 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 9026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chœur is recorded at frequency rank #8,357, classified as anoun, pronounced \kœʁ\. 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 9026, this pair ranks #418,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chœur vs cour
Shared letters: cru. Private to "chœur": hœ. Private to "cour": o.
"chœur" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cour ← ccour · coru · courr · cuor · ocur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "chœur" for "cour" ever safe?
Which is more common, "chœur" or "cour"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "chœur" 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 #418,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chœur" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs cour". 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 #418,056 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.