Which to use
“contact” and “contract” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,102
- “contact” frequency rank
- #1,216
- “contract” frequency rank
- 2318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contact | contract |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of touching physically; being in close association. | An agreement between two or more parties, to perform a specific job or work order, often temporary or of fixed duration and usually governed by a written agreement. |
Where the eye mixes contact and contract
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: contact vs contract
A purely visual mix-up. contact (/ˈkɑntækt/) and contract (/ˈkɒntɹækt/) 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 2318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contact is recorded at frequency rank #1,102, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɑntækt/. contract is at rank #1,216, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒntɹækt/.
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 2318, this pair ranks #525,285 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contact vs contract
Shared letters: acnot. Private to "contact": -. Private to "contract": r.
"contact" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "contract" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contact" and "contract" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "contact" or "contract"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contact" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contract" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #525,285 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contact" and "contract" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contract vs counteract". 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 #525,285 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.