Which to use
“courte” and “couru” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,468
- “courte” frequency rank
- #9,459
- “couru” frequency rank
- 11927
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courte | couru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de court. | Fréquenté. |
Where the eye mixes courte and couru
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses courte with couru
A purely visual mix-up. courte (\kuʁt\) and couru (\ku.ʁy\) 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 11927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courte is recorded at frequency rank #2,468, classified as anadj, pronounced \kuʁt\. couru is at rank #9,459, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.ʁy\.
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 11927, this pair ranks #407,234 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of courte vs couru
Shared letters: coru. Private to "courte": et. Private to "couru": -.
"courte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "couru" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courte" for "couru" ever safe?
Frequency check: "courte" vs "couru" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "courte" and "couru" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "courte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #407,234 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courte" and "couru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupa vs couru". 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 #407,234 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.