Which to use
“courtes” and “courtois” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,284
- “courtes” frequency rank
- #11,024
- “courtois” frequency rank
- 17308
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courtes | courtois |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de court. | Conforme à l’idéal de la chevalerie. |
Where the eye mixes courtes and courtois
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. courtes runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against courtois's 8 (CVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between courtes and courtois
A purely visual mix-up. courtes (\kuʁt\) and courtois (\kuʁ.twa\) 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 17308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courtes is recorded at frequency rank #6,284, classified as anadj, pronounced \kuʁt\. courtois is at rank #11,024, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kuʁ.twa\.
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 17308, this pair ranks #383,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of courtes vs courtois
Shared letters: corstu. Private to "courtes": e. Private to "courtois": i.
"courtes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "courtois" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "courtes" and "courtois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "courtes" or "courtois"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "courtes" and "courtois" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "courtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courtois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courtes" and "courtois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courais vs courtois". 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 #383,807 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.