Which to use
“courrier” and “coursiers” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,393
- “courrier” frequency rank
- #40,697
- “coursiers” frequency rank
- 44090
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courrier | coursiers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ou Celui qui courait la poste en avant des voitures pour préparer les relais. | Pluriel de coursier. |
Where the eye mixes courrier and coursiers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. courrier runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against coursiers's 9 (CVVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses courrier with coursiers
A purely visual mix-up. courrier (\ku.ʁje\) and coursiers (\kuʁ.sje\) 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 44090, 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\. coursiers is at rank #40,697, tagged as anoun, 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 44090, this pair ranks #213,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courrier vs coursiers
Shared letters: ceioru. Private to "courrier": -. Private to "coursiers": s.
"courrier" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "coursiers" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "courrier" and "coursiers" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "courrier" or "coursiers" show up more?
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 "coursiers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #213,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courrier" and "coursiers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Courier vs coursiers". 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 #213,126 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.