Which to use
“courais” is a noun and “courir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,582
- “courais” frequency rank
- #2,707
- “courir” frequency rank
- 52289
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courais | courir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de courai. | 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 courais and courir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. courais runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) 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 courais with courir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courais is \ku.ʁe\ while courir is \ku.ʁiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courais is recorded at frequency rank #49,582, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku.ʁe\. 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 52289, this pair ranks #148,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courais vs courir
Shared letters: cioru. Private to "courais": as. Private to "courir": -.
"courais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "courir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "courais" and "courir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "courais" or "courir" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "courais" and "courir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "courais" 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 #148,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courais" and "courir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courais vs courges". 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 #148,753 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.