Which to use
“cours” and “cous” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #202
- “cours” frequency rank
- #38,734
- “cous” frequency rank
- 38936
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cours | cous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et … | Pierre à aiguiser utilisée par les faucheurs. |
Where the eye mixes cours and cous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cours vs cous
A purely visual mix-up. cours (\kuʁ\) and cous (\kus\) 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 38936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cours is recorded at frequency rank #202, classified as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ\. cous is at rank #38,734, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kus\.
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 38936, this pair ranks #251,739 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cours vs cous
Shared letters: cosu. Private to "cours": r. Private to "cous": -.
"cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "cous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cours" and "cous" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cours" vs "cous" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cours" and "cous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cours" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #251,739 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cours" and "cous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs cous". 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 #251,739 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.