Which to use
“cont” is a verb and “cour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,320
- “cont” frequency rank
- #41,064
- “cour” frequency rank
- 61384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cont | cour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abbreviation of continue. | A three-month unit of television broadcasting, corresponding to one of the four seasons. |
Letter map: cont vs cour
Shared letters muted; letters that set cont and cour apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. cont (CVCC) and cour (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - cont and cour
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cont is averb and couranoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cont is recorded at frequency rank #20,320, classified as averb. cour is at rank #41,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʊə(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 61384, this pair ranks #94,634 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cont vs cour
Shared letters: co. Private to "cont": nt. Private to "cour": ru.
"cont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cont" for "cour" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "cont" or "cour" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cont" and "cour".
- Full dictionary entry for "cont" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,634 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cont" and "cour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cour vs cower". 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 #94,634 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.