Which to use
“courtois” is an adjective and “courtoisie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,024
- “courtois” frequency rank
- #13,761
- “courtoisie” frequency rank
- 24785
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courtois | courtoisie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Conforme à l’idéal de la chevalerie. | Manière de parler et d’agir de celui qui est courtois. |
Where the eye mixes courtois and courtoisie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. courtois runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against courtoisie's 10 (CVVCCVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between courtois and courtoisie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courtois is \kuʁ.twa\ while courtoisie is \kuʁ.twa.zi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “courtois” sits inside “courtoisie”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24785, 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\. courtoisie is at rank #13,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kuʁ.twa.zi\.
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 24785, this pair ranks #344,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of courtois vs courtoisie
Shared letters: ciorstu. Private to "courtois": -. Private to "courtoisie": e.
"courtois" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "courtoisie" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- courtois ← ccourtois · corutois · courotis · courrtois · courtios · courtoiss · courtosi · courttois
- courtoisie ← ccourtoisie · corutoisie · courotisie · courrtoisie · courtiosie · courtoiise · courtoisei · courtoissie
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "courtois" and "courtoisie" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "courtois" or "courtoisie"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "courtois" and "courtoisie" 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 "courtoisie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courtois" and "courtoisie" 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 #344,625 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.