Which to use
“coups” and “course” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,227
- “coups” frequency rank
- #1,059
- “course” frequency rank
- 2286
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coups | course |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de coup. | Action de courir, mouvement de celui qui court. |
Where the eye mixes coups and course
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses coups with course
A purely visual mix-up. coups (\ku\) and course (\kuʁs\) 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 2286, 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\. course is at rank #1,059, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuʁs\.
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 2286, this pair ranks #436,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of coups vs course
Shared letters: cosu. Private to "coups": p. Private to "course": er.
"coups" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "course" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coups" and "course" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "coups" vs "course" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "coups" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "course" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coups" and "course" 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 #436,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.