Which to use
“cost” and “cour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,234
- “cost” frequency rank
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- 14903
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cost | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Coût. | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. |
Where the eye mixes cost and cour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cost (CVCC) and cour (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: cost vs cour
A purely visual mix-up. cost (\kɒst\) 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 14903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cost is recorded at frequency rank #14,234, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɒst\. 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 14903, this pair ranks #394,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cost vs cour
Shared letters: co. Private to "cost": st. Private to "cour": ru.
"cost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cost" and "cour" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cost" vs "cour" - which ranks higher?
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 "cost" 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 #394,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cost" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coon vs cost". 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 #394,693 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.