Which to use
“courre” and “coûte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,733
- “courre” frequency rank
- #2,915
- “coûte” frequency rank
- 41648
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courre | coûte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme ancienne de courir jusqu’au XIIIᵉ siècle. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de coûter. |
Where the eye mixes courre and coûte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses courre with coûte
A purely visual mix-up. courre (\kuʁ\) and coûte (\kut\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41648, 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\. coûte is at rank #2,915, tagged as averb, pronounced \kut\.
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 41648, this pair ranks #231,533 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courre vs coûte
Shared letters: ceo. Private to "courre": ru. Private to "coûte": tû.
"courre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "coûte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- courre ← ccourre · corure · coure · courer · cuorre · ocurre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "courre" and "coûte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "courre" vs "coûte" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
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 "coûte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #231,533 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courre" and "coûte" 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 #231,533 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.