Which to use
“core” and “cour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,102
- “core” frequency rank
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- 16771
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | core | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Centre, noyau. | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. |
Where the eye mixes core and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: core vs cour
A purely visual mix-up. core (\kɔː\) 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 16771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
core is recorded at frequency rank #16,102, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔː\. 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 16771, this pair ranks #386,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of core vs cour
Shared letters: cor. Private to "core": e. Private to "cour": u.
"core" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "core" for "cour" ever safe?
Which is more common, "core" or "cour"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "core" and "cour" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "core" 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 #386,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "core" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs core". 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 #386,319 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.