Which to use
“cours” and “coûts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #202
- “cours” frequency rank
- #3,450
- “coûts” frequency rank
- 3652
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cours | coûts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mouvement d’écoulement naturel dans l’espace. → voir cours d’eau et … | Pluriel de coût. |
Where the eye mixes cours and coûts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cours and coûts
A purely visual mix-up. cours (\kuʁ\) and coûts (\ku\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cours is recorded at frequency rank #202, classified as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ\. coûts is at rank #3,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.
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 3652, this pair ranks #433,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cours vs coûts
Shared letters: cos. Private to "cours": ru. Private to "coûts": tû.
"cours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "coûts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cours ← ccours · corus · courrs · courss · cousr · cuors · ocurs
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cours" and "coûts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cours" or "coûts" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cours" and "coûts" 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 "coûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cours" and "coûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs coûts". 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 #433,514 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.