Which to use
“contentious” is an adjective and “conventions” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,298
- “contentious” frequency rank
- #9,865
- “conventions” frequency rank
- 29163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contentious | conventions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Marked by heated arguments or controversy. | plural of convention |
Where the eye mixes contentious and conventions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses contentious with conventions
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contentious is /kənˈtɛn.ʃəs/ while conventions is /kənˈvɛn.ʃənz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contentious is recorded at frequency rank #19,298, classified as anadj, pronounced /kənˈtɛn.ʃəs/. conventions is at rank #9,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kənˈvɛn.ʃənz/.
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 29163, this pair ranks #365,299 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contentious vs conventions
Shared letters: ceinost. Private to "contentious": u. Private to "conventions": v.
"contentious" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVVC · "conventions" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contentious ← ccontentious · cnotentious · conetntious · conntentious · contenitous · contenntious · contentiosu · contentiouss
- conventions ← cconventions · cnoventions · conevntions · connventions · convenitons · convenntions · conventinos · conventionns
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contentious" and "conventions" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "contentious" or "conventions" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contentious" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "conventions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #365,299 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contentious" and "conventions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "convection vs conventions". 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 #365,299 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.