coulisvscourtsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,366
“coulis” frequency rank
#4,931
“courts” frequency rank
48297
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coulis courts
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. Masculin pluriel de court.

Where the eye mixes coulis and courts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. coulis (CVVCVC) and courts (CVVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
coulis
6 ch
courts

Visual trap between coulis and courts

A purely visual mix-up. coulis (\ku.li\) and courts (\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 48297, 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\. courts is at rank #4,931, tagged as anadj, 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 48297, this pair ranks #180,019 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coulis vs courts

Shared letters: cosu. Private to "coulis": il. Private to "courts": rt.

"coulis" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "courts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coulis ← ccoulis · coluis · couils · couliss · coullis · coulsi · cuolis · oculis
  • courts ← ccourts · coruts · courrts · courst · courtss · courtts · coutrs · cuorts

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coulis" and "courts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ku.li\ versus \kuʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "coulis" vs "courts" - which ranks higher?
"courts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,931 in our French list, against #43,366 for "coulis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "coulis" and "courts" 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 "courts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,019 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coulis" and "courts" 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 #180,019 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list