Which to use
“courtois” and “courtoise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,024
- “courtois” frequency rank
- #44,400
- “courtoise” frequency rank
- 55424
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courtois | courtoise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Conforme à l’idéal de la chevalerie. | Féminin singulier de courtois. |
Where the eye mixes courtois and courtoise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. courtois runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against courtoise's 9 (CVVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: courtois vs courtoise
A purely visual mix-up. courtois (\kuʁ.twa\) and courtoise (\kuʁ.twaz\) 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 extra letter(s) - “courtois” sits inside “courtoise”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courtois is recorded at frequency rank #11,024, classified as anadj, pronounced \kuʁ.twa\. courtoise is at rank #44,400, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kuʁ.twaz\.
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 55424, this pair ranks #127,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courtois vs courtoise
Shared letters: ciorstu. Private to "courtois": -. Private to "courtoise": e.
"courtois" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "courtoise" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courtois" for "courtoise" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "courtois" or "courtoise" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "courtois" and "courtoise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "courtois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courtoise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #127,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courtois" and "courtoise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courtiser vs courtoise". 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 #127,529 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.