Which to use
“cour” is a noun and “courir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #669
- “cour” frequency rank
- #2,707
- “courir” frequency rank
- 3376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cour | courir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espace découvert qui dépend d’une maison, d’un hôtel, etc., et qui est entouré de murs ou de bâtiments. | 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 cour and courir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cour runs 4 letters (CVVC) against courir's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cour with courir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cour is \kuʁ\ while courir is \ku.ʁiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “cour” sits inside “courir”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cour is recorded at frequency rank #669, classified as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ\. 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 3376, this pair ranks #434,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cour vs courir
Shared letters: coru. Private to "cour": -. Private to "courir": i.
"cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "courir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cour" for "courir" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cour" vs "courir" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cour" 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 #434,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cour" and "courir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courais vs courir". 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 #434,182 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.