Which to use
“copy” and “cour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,360
- “copy” frequency rank
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- 44029
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | copy | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Copie. | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. |
Where the eye mixes copy and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses copy with cour
A purely visual mix-up. copy (\ˈkɒp.i\) 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 44029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
copy is recorded at frequency rank #43,360, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɒp.i\. 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 44029, this pair ranks #213,586 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of copy vs cour
Shared letters: co. Private to "copy": py. Private to "cour": ru.
"copy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "copy" for "cour" ever safe?
Frequency check: "copy" vs "cour" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "copy" 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 #213,586 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "copy" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "copy vs coupa". 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 #213,586 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.