Which to use
“concours” is a noun and “concouru” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,057
- “concours” frequency rank
- #45,516
- “concouru” frequency rank
- 46573
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | concours | concouru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de tendre vers un même but, de coopérer. | Participe passé masculin singulier de concourir. |
Where the eye mixes concours and concouru
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. concours (CVCCVVCC) and concouru (CVCCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses concours with concouru
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: concours is \kɔ̃.kuʁ\ while concouru is \kɔ̃.ku.ʁy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “concours” becomes u in “concouru”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
concours is recorded at frequency rank #1,057, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.kuʁ\. concouru is at rank #45,516, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ku.ʁy\.
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 46573, this pair ranks #193,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of concours vs concouru
Shared letters: cnoru. Private to "concours": s. Private to "concouru": -.
"concours" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "concouru" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "concours" and "concouru" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "concours" vs "concouru" - 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 "concours" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "concouru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "concours" and "concouru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conclura vs concouru". 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 #193,848 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.