CouriervscourteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Courier is a name, courte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Courier” is a name and “courte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,201
“Courier” frequency rank
#2,468
“courte” frequency rank
42669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Courier courte
Definition Nom d’une police à chasse fixe (monospace) rappelant une machine à écrire, et dont les empattements sont conçus pour éviter toute confusion entre deux caractères. Féminin singulier de court.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Courier and courte apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
Courier
6 ch
courte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Courier is aname and courteanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Courier is recorded at frequency rank #40,201, classified as aname. courte is at rank #2,468, 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 42669, this pair ranks #223,863 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Courier vs courte

Shared letters: ceoru. Private to "Courier": i. Private to "courte": t.

"Courier" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "courte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Courierccourier · coruier · couirer · coureir · courierr · courire · cuorier · ocurier
  • courteccourte · corute · couret · courrte · courtte · coutre · cuorte · ocurte

Frequency comparison

Courier#40,201
courte#2,468

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Courier" and "courte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Courier" is a name and "courte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Courier" or "courte"?
"courte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,468 in our French list, against #40,201 for "Courier". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Courier vs courte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Courier”; for an adjective, it's “courte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Courier” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list