Which to use
“courbe” is an adjective and “courus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,745
- “courbe” frequency rank
- #45,530
- “courus” frequency rank
- 51275
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courbe | courus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est ni droit, ni composé de lignes droites. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de courir. |
Where the eye mixes courbe and courus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. courbe (CVVCCV) and courus (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between courbe and courus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courbe is \kuʁb\ while courus is \ku.ʁy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51275, 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\. courus is at rank #45,530, tagged as averb, 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 51275, this pair ranks #156,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courbe vs courus
Shared letters: coru. Private to "courbe": be. Private to "courus": s.
"courbe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "courus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "courbe" and "courus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "courbe" or "courus" show up more?
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 "courus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courbe" and "courus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courges vs courus". 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 #156,263 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.