Which to use
“courtes” is an adjective and “coûter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,284
- “courtes” frequency rank
- #8,089
- “coûter” frequency rank
- 14373
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courtes | coûter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de court. | Valoir tel ou tel prix d’achat. |
Where the eye mixes courtes and coûter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses courtes with coûter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courtes is \kuʁt\ while coûter is \ku.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14373, 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\. coûter is at rank #8,089, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.te\.
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 14373, this pair ranks #396,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of courtes vs coûter
Shared letters: ceort. Private to "courtes": su. Private to "coûter": û.
"courtes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "coûter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- courtes ← ccourtes · corutes · courets · courrtes · courtess · courtse · courttes · coutres
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courtes" for "coûter" ever safe?
Which is more common, "courtes" or "coûter"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "courtes" and "coûter" 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 "coûter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courtes" and "coûter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courges vs courtes". 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 #396,973 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.