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. |
Same sound, different letters: courre vs courts
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. courre (CVVCCV) and courts (CVVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - courre / courts
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courre" and "courts" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "courre" or "courts" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "courre" / "courts". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "courre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #216,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courre" and "courts" 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 #216,357 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.