Which to use
“secourir” and “secouru” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,269
- “secourir” frequency rank
- #27,964
- “secouru” frequency rank
- 45233
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | secourir | secouru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aider ; courir à l’aide de quelqu’un ; prêter assistance à qui en a besoin. | Participe passé masculin singulier de secourir. |
Where the eye mixes secourir and secouru
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. secourir runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against secouru's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between secourir and secouru
A purely visual mix-up. secourir (\sə.ku.ʁiʁ\) and secouru (\sə.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 45233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
secourir is recorded at frequency rank #17,269, classified as averb, pronounced \sə.ku.ʁiʁ\. secouru is at rank #27,964, tagged as averb, pronounced \sə.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 45233, this pair ranks #204,322 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of secourir vs secouru
Shared letters: ceorsu. Private to "secourir": i. Private to "secouru": -.
"secourir" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "secouru" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "secourir" and "secouru" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "secourir" or "secouru" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "secourir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "secouru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #204,322 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "secourir" and "secouru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "secouru vs secure". 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 #204,322 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.