Which to use
“courus” is a verb and “coûts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,530
- “courus” frequency rank
- #3,450
- “coûts” frequency rank
- 48980
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | courus | coûts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin pluriel de courir. | Pluriel de coût. |
Where the eye mixes courus and coûts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses courus with coûts
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: courus is \ku.ʁy\ while coûts is \ku\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
courus is recorded at frequency rank #45,530, classified as averb, pronounced \ku.ʁy\. coûts is at rank #3,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ku\.
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 48980, this pair ranks #174,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of courus vs coûts
Shared letters: cos. Private to "courus": ru. Private to "coûts": tû.
"courus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "coûts" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- courus ← ccourus · coruus · courrus · coursu · couruss · couurs · cuorus · ocurus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "courus" for "coûts" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "courus" or "coûts" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "courus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #174,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "courus" and "coûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courges vs courus". 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 #174,482 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.