Which to use
“courrier” is a noun and “coursier” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,393
- “courrier” frequency rank
- #31,906
- “coursier” frequency rank
- 35299
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courrier | coursier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ou Celui qui courait la poste en avant des voitures pour préparer les relais. | Qui concerne les courses, les achats dans les magasins. |
Where the eye mixes courrier and coursier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. courrier and coursier follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between courrier and coursier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courrier is \ku.ʁje\ while coursier is \kuʁ.sje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “courrier” becomes s in “coursier”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courrier is recorded at frequency rank #3,393, classified as anoun, pronounced \ku.ʁje\. coursier is at rank #31,906, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kuʁ.sje\.
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 35299, this pair ranks #277,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courrier vs coursier
Shared letters: ceioru. Private to "courrier": -. Private to "coursier": s.
"courrier" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "coursier" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courrier" and "coursier" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "courrier" or "coursier"?
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 "courrier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coursier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #277,762 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courrier" and "coursier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courber vs coursier". 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 #277,762 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.