coeursvscourtsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: coeurs is a typographic variant, courts is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“coeurs” is a typographic variant and “courts” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,662
“coeurs” frequency rank
#4,931
“courts” frequency rank
15593
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coeurs courts
Definition Pluriel de coeur. Masculin pluriel de court.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set coeurs and courts apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
coeurs
6 ch
courts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coeurs is \kœʁ\ while courts is \kuʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (typographic variant vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coeurs is recorded at frequency rank #10,662, classified as atypographic variant, pronounced \kœʁ\. courts is at rank #4,931, tagged as anadj, 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 15593, this pair ranks #391,688 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coeurs vs courts

Shared letters: corsu. Private to "coeurs": e. Private to "courts": t.

"coeurs" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC  ·  "courts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coeursccoeurs · ceours · coerus · coeurrs · coeurss · coeusr · couers · oceurs
  • courtsccourts · coruts · courrts · courst · courtss · courtts · coutrs · cuorts

Frequency comparison

coeurs#10,662
courts#4,931

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coeurs" and "courts" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coeurs" is a typographic variant and "courts" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "coeurs" or "courts"?
"courts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,931 in our French list, against #10,662 for "coeurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering coeurs vs courts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a typographic variant, it's “coeurs”; for an adjective, it's “courts”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “coeurs” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list