Which to use
“courbe” and “couru” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,745
- “courbe” frequency rank
- #9,459
- “couru” frequency rank
- 15204
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courbe | couru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est ni droit, ni composé de lignes droites. | Fréquenté. |
Where the eye mixes courbe and couru
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses courbe with couru
A purely visual mix-up. courbe (\kuʁb\) and couru (\ku.ʁy\) 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 15204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courbe is recorded at frequency rank #5,745, classified as anadj, pronounced \kuʁb\. couru is at rank #9,459, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.ʁy\.
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 15204, this pair ranks #393,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of courbe vs couru
Shared letters: coru. Private to "courbe": be. Private to "couru": -.
"courbe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "couru" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "courbe" and "couru" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "courbe" vs "couru" - 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 "courbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courbe" and "couru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs couru". 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 #393,389 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.