Which to use
“conduct” and “contact” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,884
- “conduct” frequency rank
- #1,102
- “contact” frequency rank
- 3986
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conduct | contact |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act or method of controlling or directing. | The act of touching physically; being in close association. |
Where the eye mixes conduct and contact
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses conduct with contact
A purely visual mix-up. conduct (/ˈkɒndʌkt/) and contact (/ˈkɑntækt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
conduct is recorded at frequency rank #2,884, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒndʌkt/. contact is at rank #1,102, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɑntækt/.
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 3986, this pair ranks #520,355 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of conduct vs contact
Shared letters: cnot. Private to "conduct": du. Private to "contact": a.
"conduct" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "contact" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "conduct" and "contact" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "conduct" vs "contact" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "conduct" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contact" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #520,355 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conduct" and "contact" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conduct vs conduit". 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 #520,355 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.