courbetvscourgeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“courbet” and “courge” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,388
“courbet” frequency rank
#30,546
“courge” frequency rank
57934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature courbet courge
Definition Grande serpe dont il existe au moins six types différents de par la forme. Genre de plantes de la famille des Cucurbitacées (Cucurbitaceae).

Where the eye mixes courbet and courge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. courbet runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against courge's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
courbet
6 ch
courge

Look-alike desk: courbet vs courge

A purely visual mix-up. courbet (\kuʁ.bɛ\) and courge (\kuʁʒ\) 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 57934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

courbet is recorded at frequency rank #27,388, classified as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ.bɛ\. courge is at rank #30,546, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuʁʒ\.

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 57934, this pair ranks #112,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of courbet vs courge

Shared letters: ceoru. Private to "courbet": bt. Private to "courge": g.

"courbet" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "courge" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • courbet ← ccourbet · corubet · coubret · courbbet · courbett · courbte · courebt · courrbet
  • courge ← ccourge · coruge · cougre · coureg · courgge · courrge · cuorge · ocurge

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "courbet" and "courge" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kuʁ.bɛ\ versus \kuʁʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "courbet" vs "courge" - which ranks higher?
"courbet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,388 in our French list, against #30,546 for "courge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "courbet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "courge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #112,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "courbet" and "courge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courge vs curage". 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 #112,041 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list