courrevscourtsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: courre is a verb, courts is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“courre” is a verb and “courts” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,733
“courre” frequency rank
#4,931
“courts” frequency rank
43664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature courre courts
Definition Forme ancienne de courir jusqu’au XIIIᵉ siècle. Masculin pluriel de court.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set courre and courts apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
courre
6 ch
courts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: courre and courts carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kuʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43664, 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\. courts is at rank #4,931, tagged as anadj, 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 43664, this pair ranks #216,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of courre vs courts

Shared letters: coru. Private to "courre": e. Private to "courts": st.

"courre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "courts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • courreccourre · corure · coure · courer · cuorre · ocurre
  • courtsccourts · coruts · courrts · courst · courtss · courtts · coutrs · cuorts

Frequency comparison

courre#38,733
courts#4,931

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "courre" and "courts" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "courre" is a verb and "courts" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "courre" or "courts"?
"courts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,931 in our French list, against #38,733 for "courre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering courre vs courts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “courre”; for an adjective, it's “courts”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “courre” 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