Which to use
“courre” is a verb and “cours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,733
- “courre” frequency rank
- #202
- “cours” frequency rank
- 38935
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courre | cours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme ancienne de courir jusqu’au XIIIᵉ siècle. | Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et … |
Same sound, different letters: courre vs cours
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - courre / cours
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: courre and cours carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kuʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courre is recorded at frequency rank #38,733, classified as averb, pronounced \kuʁ\. cours is at rank #202, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ\.
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 38935, this pair ranks #251,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courre vs cours
Shared letters: coru. Private to "courre": e. Private to "cours": s.
"courre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courre" and "cours" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "courre" or "cours"?
What to do next
"courre" and "cours" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "courre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #251,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courre" and "cours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courges vs courre". 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 #251,746 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.