Which to use
“courre” and “couvre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,733
- “courre” frequency rank
- #3,746
- “couvre” frequency rank
- 42479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courre | couvre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme ancienne de courir jusqu’au XIIIᵉ siècle. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de couvrir. |
Where the eye mixes courre and couvre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. courre and couvre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between courre and couvre
A purely visual mix-up. courre (\kuʁ\) and couvre (\kuvʁ\) 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 a single letter - r in “courre” becomes v in “couvre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42479, 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\. couvre is at rank #3,746, tagged as averb, pronounced \kuvʁ\.
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 42479, this pair ranks #225,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courre vs couvre
Shared letters: ceoru. Private to "courre": -. Private to "couvre": v.
"courre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "couvre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courre" and "couvre" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "courre" or "couvre" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "courre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courre" and "couvre" 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 #225,306 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.