Which to use
“courir” and “courus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,707
- “courir” frequency rank
- #45,530
- “courus” frequency rank
- 48237
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courir | courus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de courir. |
Where the eye mixes courir and courus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. courir and courus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: courir vs courus
A purely visual mix-up. courir (\ku.ʁiʁ\) and courus (\ku.ʁy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courir is recorded at frequency rank #2,707, classified as averb, pronounced \ku.ʁiʁ\. 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 48237, this pair ranks #180,545 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courir vs courus
Shared letters: coru. Private to "courir": i. Private to "courus": s.
"courir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "courus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courir" for "courus" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "courir" or "courus" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "courir" 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 #180,545 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courir" 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 #180,545 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.