Which to use
“courre” and “courut” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,733
- “courre” frequency rank
- #42,809
- “courut” frequency rank
- 81542
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courre | courut |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme ancienne de courir jusqu’au XIIIᵉ siècle. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de courir. |
Where the eye mixes courre and courut
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses courre with courut
A purely visual mix-up. courre (\kuʁ\) and courut (\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 81542, 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\. courut is at rank #42,809, 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 81542, this pair ranks #18,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of courre vs courut
Shared letters: coru. Private to "courre": e. Private to "courut": t.
"courre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "courut" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courre" and "courut" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "courre" or "courut"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "courre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courre" and "courut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courra vs courut". 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 #18,534 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.