cortevscorvéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“corte” and “corvée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,386
“corte” frequency rank
#21,583
“corvée” frequency rank
48969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corte corvée
Definition Cour. Travail et service gratuit qui était dû par le paysan à son seigneur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set corte and corvée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
corte
6 ch
corvée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. corte (\ˈkɔr.te\) and corvée (\kɔʁ.ve\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corte is recorded at frequency rank #27,386, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔr.te\. corvée is at rank #21,583, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.ve\.

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 48969, this pair ranks #174,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corte vs corvée

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "corte": t. Private to "corvée": .

"corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "corvée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corteccorte · coret · corrte · cotre · ocrte

Frequency comparison

corte#27,386
corvée#21,583

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corte" and "corvée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈkɔr.te\ versus \kɔʁ.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "corte" or "corvée"?
"corvée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,583 in our French list, against #27,386 for "corte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering corte vs corvée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “corte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list