Which to use
“courber” and “courir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,681
- “courber” frequency rank
- #2,707
- “courir” frequency rank
- 49388
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courber | courir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rendre courbe. | 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 courber and courir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between courber and courir
A purely visual mix-up. courber (\kuʁ.be\) and courir (\ku.ʁiʁ\) 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 49388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courber is recorded at frequency rank #46,681, classified as averb, pronounced \kuʁ.be\. 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 49388, this pair ranks #171,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courber vs courir
Shared letters: coru. Private to "courber": be. Private to "courir": i.
"courber" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "courir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courber" for "courir" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "courber" or "courir" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "courber" 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 #171,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courber" and "courir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courber 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 #171,114 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.