Which to use
“coin” and “cour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,435
- “coin” frequency rank
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- 2104
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coin | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de fer ou de bois ou de toute autre matière dure, de forme prismatique, dont on se sert principalement pour fendre du bois, des pierres, en la faisant entrer de force avec un maillet ou un marteau. | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. |
Where the eye mixes coin and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses coin with cour
A purely visual mix-up. coin (\kwɛ̃\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coin is recorded at frequency rank #1,435, classified as anoun, pronounced \kwɛ̃\. 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 2104, this pair ranks #436,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coin vs cour
Shared letters: co. Private to "coin": in. Private to "cour": ru.
"coin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coin" and "cour" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "coin" vs "cour" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coin" 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 #436,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coin" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coin vs coon". 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 #436,767 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.