Which to use
“colts” and “cours” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,350
- “colts” frequency rank
- #202
- “cours” frequency rank
- 43552
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | colts | cours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de colt. | Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et … |
Where the eye mixes colts and cours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between colts and cours
A purely visual mix-up. colts (\kɔlt\) and cours (\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 43552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
colts is recorded at frequency rank #43,350, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔlt\. cours is at rank #202, 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 43552, this pair ranks #217,188 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of colts vs cours
Shared letters: cos. Private to "colts": lt. Private to "cours": ru.
"colts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "colts" for "cours" ever safe?
Which is more common, "colts" or "cours"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "colts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #217,188 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "colts" and "cours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colla vs colts". 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 #217,188 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.