Which to use
“coursier” is an adjective and “courtier” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,906
- “coursier” frequency rank
- #13,150
- “courtier” frequency rank
- 45056
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coursier | courtier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui concerne les courses, les achats dans les magasins. | Mandataire (attention, pas au sens où le droit commercial l’entend) qui, moyennant une prime, s’entremet pour la vente ou l’achat de certaines marchandises, ou pour les affrètements, les assurances, etc. |
Where the eye mixes coursier and courtier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: coursier vs courtier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coursier is \kuʁ.sje\ while courtier is \kuʁ.tje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “coursier” becomes t in “courtier”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coursier is recorded at frequency rank #31,906, classified as anadj, pronounced \kuʁ.sje\. courtier is at rank #13,150, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ.tje\.
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 45056, this pair ranks #205,755 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of coursier vs courtier
Shared letters: ceioru. Private to "coursier": s. Private to "courtier": t.
"coursier" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "courtier" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coursier" for "courtier" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "coursier" or "courtier" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "coursier" and "courtier" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "coursier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courtier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,755 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coursier" and "courtier" 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 #205,755 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.