Which to use
“coulis” is an adjective and “courir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,366
- “coulis” frequency rank
- #2,707
- “courir” frequency rank
- 46073
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coulis | courir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui coule. N’est plus usité que dans la locution : Vent coulis : vent qui coule, qui se glisse au travers des fentes et des trous. | Se déplacer rapidement, avec impétuosité, par un mouvement alternatif des jambes ou des pattes prenant appui sur le sol, avec une phase de suspension en l’air, sans appui. |
Where the eye mixes coulis and courir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. coulis and courir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: coulis vs courir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coulis is \ku.li\ while courir is \ku.ʁiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46073, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coulis is recorded at frequency rank #43,366, classified as anadj, pronounced \ku.li\. courir is at rank #2,707, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.ʁiʁ\.
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 46073, this pair ranks #197,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coulis vs courir
Shared letters: ciou. Private to "coulis": ls. Private to "courir": r.
"coulis" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "courir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coulis" for "courir" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "coulis" or "courir" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "coulis" and "courir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "coulis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #197,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coulis" and "courir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coulis vs courais". 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 #197,815 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.