encoursvsencourusWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: encours is a noun, encourus is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“encours” is a noun and “encourus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,842
“encours” frequency rank
#35,495
“encourus” frequency rank
58337
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encours encourus
Definition Montant des titres représentant des engagements financiers en cours. Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe encourir.

Where the eye mixes encours and encourus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. encours runs 7 letters (VCCVVCC) against encourus's 8 (VCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
encours
8 ch
encourus

Visual trap between encours and encourus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: encours is \ɑ̃.kuʁ\ while encourus is \ɑ̃.ku.ʁy\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encours is recorded at frequency rank #22,842, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.kuʁ\. encourus is at rank #35,495, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.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 58337, this pair ranks #109,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of encours vs encourus

Shared letters: cenorsu. Private to "encours": -. Private to "encourus": -.

"encours" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC  ·  "encourus" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encoursecnours · enccours · encorus · encourrs · encourss · encousr · encuors · enncours
  • encourusecnourus · enccourus · encoruus · encourrus · encoursu · encouruss · encouurs · encuorus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "encours" for "encourus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "encours" is a noun and "encourus" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "encours" or "encourus" show up more?
"encours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,842 in our French list, against #35,495 for "encourus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "encours" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "encourus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encours" and "encourus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encourir vs encourus". 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 #109,673 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list