Which to use
“courait” and “coûtait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,795
- “courait” frequency rank
- #23,155
- “coûtait” frequency rank
- 42950
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courait | coûtait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de courir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de coûter. |
Where the eye mixes courait and coûtait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. courait and coûtait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses courait with coûtait
A purely visual mix-up. courait (\ku.ʁɛ\) and coûtait (\ku.tɛ\) 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 42950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courait is recorded at frequency rank #19,795, classified as averb, pronounced \ku.ʁɛ\. coûtait is at rank #23,155, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.tɛ\.
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 42950, this pair ranks #221,717 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courait vs coûtait
Shared letters: aciot. Private to "courait": ru. Private to "coûtait": û.
"courait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "coûtait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- courait ← ccourait · coruait · couarit · couraitt · courati · couriat · cuorait · ocurait
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courait" and "coûtait" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "courait" or "coûtait"?
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 "courait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûtait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,717 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courait" and "coûtait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courais vs coûtait". 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 #221,717 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.