Which to use
“coups” and “cours” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,227
- “coups” frequency rank
- #202
- “cours” frequency rank
- 1429
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coups | cours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de coup. | Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et … |
Where the eye mixes coups and cours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses coups with cours
A purely visual mix-up. coups (\ku\) and cours (\kuʁ\) 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 a single letter - p in “coups” becomes r in “cours”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coups is recorded at frequency rank #1,227, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku\. cours is at rank #202, 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 1429, this pair ranks #438,081 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coups vs cours
Shared letters: cosu. Private to "coups": p. Private to "cours": r.
"coups" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "coups" and "cours" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "coups" or "cours"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "coups" and "cours" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "coups" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,081 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coups" and "cours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs coups". 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 #438,081 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.