Which to use
“courtisan” and “courtisans” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,817
- “courtisan” frequency rank
- #40,698
- “courtisans” frequency rank
- 88515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courtisan | courtisans |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui relève de la courtisanerie. | Masculin pluriel de courtisan. |
Same sound, different letters: courtisan vs courtisans
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. courtisan runs 9 letters (CVVCCVCVC) against courtisans's 10 (CVVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: courtisan vs courtisans
This is the hard kind. courtisan and courtisans are pronounced identically (\kuʁ.ti.zɑ̃\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “courtisan” sits inside “courtisans”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courtisan is recorded at frequency rank #47,817, classified as anadj, pronounced \kuʁ.ti.zɑ̃\. courtisans is at rank #40,698, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kuʁ.ti.zɑ̃\.
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 88515, this pair ranks #6,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of courtisan vs courtisans
Shared letters: acinorstu. Private to "courtisan": -. Private to "courtisans": -.
"courtisan" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCVC · "courtisans" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- courtisan ← ccourtisan · corutisan · couritsan · courrtisan · courtiasn · courtisann · courtisna · courtissan
- courtisans ← ccourtisans · corutisans · couritsans · courrtisans · courtiasns · courtisanns · courtisanss · courtisasn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courtisan" for "courtisans" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "courtisan" or "courtisans" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "courtisan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courtisans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courtisan" and "courtisans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courtisan vs courtiser". 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 #6,894 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.