Which to use
“parcourir” and “parcouru” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,876
- “parcourir” frequency rank
- #9,051
- “parcouru” frequency rank
- 16927
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | parcourir | parcouru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Traverser un espace en divers sens. | Participe passé masculin singulier de parcourir. |
Where the eye mixes parcourir and parcouru
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. parcourir runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against parcouru's 8 (CVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses parcourir with parcouru
A purely visual mix-up. parcourir (\paʁ.ku.ʁiʁ\) and parcouru (\paʁ.ku.ʁy\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
parcourir is recorded at frequency rank #7,876, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.ku.ʁiʁ\. parcouru is at rank #9,051, tagged as averb, pronounced \paʁ.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 16927, this pair ranks #385,599 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of parcourir vs parcouru
Shared letters: acopru. Private to "parcourir": i. Private to "parcouru": -.
"parcourir" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC · "parcouru" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "parcourir" and "parcouru" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "parcourir" or "parcouru" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "parcourir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "parcouru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,599 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "parcourir" and "parcouru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Parcoursup vs parcouru". 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 #385,599 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.