Which to use
“courges” is a noun and “courtes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,583
- “courges” frequency rank
- #6,284
- “courtes” frequency rank
- 55867
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courges | courtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de courge. | Féminin pluriel de court. |
Where the eye mixes courges and courtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. courges and courtes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: courges vs courtes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courges is \kuʁʒ\ while courtes is \kuʁt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “courges” becomes t in “courtes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courges is recorded at frequency rank #49,583, classified as anoun, pronounced \kuʁʒ\. courtes is at rank #6,284, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kuʁt\.
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 55867, this pair ranks #124,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courges vs courtes
Shared letters: ceorsu. Private to "courges": g. Private to "courtes": t.
"courges" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "courtes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courges" and "courtes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "courges" vs "courtes" - which ranks higher?
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 "courges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #124,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courges" and "courtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courais 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 #124,699 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.