Which to use
“concur” is a verb and “contour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,936
- “concur” frequency rank
- #17,806
- “contour” frequency rank
- 40742
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | concur | contour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To agree (in action or opinion); to have a common opinion; to coincide; to correspond. | An outline, boundary or border, usually of curved shape. |
Where the eye mixes concur and contour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. concur runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against contour's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: concur vs contour
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: concur is /kəŋˈkɝ/ while contour is /ˈkɒntɔː(ɹ)/. 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 40742, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
concur is recorded at frequency rank #22,936, classified as averb, pronounced /kəŋˈkɝ/. contour is at rank #17,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒntɔː(ɹ)/.
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 40742, this pair ranks #264,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of concur vs contour
Shared letters: cnoru. Private to "concur": -. Private to "contour": t.
"concur" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "contour" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "concur" for "contour" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "concur" or "contour" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "concur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "concur" and "contour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concur vs cour". 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 #264,794 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.