Which to use
“coll” and “cour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,449
- “coll” frequency rank
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- 10118
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coll | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cou. | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. |
Where the eye mixes coll and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: coll vs cour
A purely visual mix-up. coll ([ˈkɔʎ]) 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 10118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coll is recorded at frequency rank #9,449, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɔʎ]. 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 10118, this pair ranks #414,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coll vs cour
Shared letters: co. Private to "coll": l. Private to "cour": ru.
"coll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coll" for "cour" ever safe?
Frequency check: "coll" vs "cour" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coll" 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 #414,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coll" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coll 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 #414,153 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.