couruvscourusWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: couru is a adjective, courus is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“couru” is an adjective and “courus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,459
“couru” frequency rank
#45,530
“courus” frequency rank
54989
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature couru courus
Definition Fréquenté. Participe passé masculin pluriel de courir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set couru and courus apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
couru
6 ch
courus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: couru and courus carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ku.ʁy\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “couru” sits inside “courus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

couru is recorded at frequency rank #9,459, classified as anadj, pronounced \ku.ʁy\. courus is at rank #45,530, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.ʁy\.

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 54989, this pair ranks #130,347 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of couru vs courus

Shared letters: coru. Private to "couru": -. Private to "courus": s.

"couru" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "courus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • couruccouru · coruu · courru · couur · cuoru · ocuru
  • courusccourus · coruus · courrus · coursu · couruss · couurs · cuorus · ocurus

Frequency comparison

couru#9,459
courus#45,530

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "couru" and "courus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "couru" is an adjective and "courus" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "couru" or "courus"?
"couru" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,459 in our French list, against #45,530 for "courus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering couru vs courus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “couru”; for a verb, it's “courus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “couru” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list