contarávscontraeTell them apart

Which to use

“contará” and “contrae” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,648
“contará” frequency rank
#22,625
“contrae” frequency rank
36273
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contará contrae
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de contar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de contraer o de contraerse.

Where the eye mixes contará and contrae

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. contará (CVCCVCV) and contrae (CVCCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
contará
7 ch
contrae

Visual trap between contará and contrae

A purely visual mix-up. contará ([kõn̪t̪aˈɾa]) and contrae ([kõn̪ˈt̪ɾae]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contará is recorded at frequency rank #13,648, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪aˈɾa]. contrae is at rank #22,625, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾae].

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 36273, this pair ranks #181,496 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contará vs contrae

Shared letters: acnort. Private to "contará": á. Private to "contrae": e.

"contará" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "contrae" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contrae ← ccontrae · cnotrae · conntrae · conrtae · contare · contrea · contrrae · conttrae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contará" and "contrae" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪t̪aˈɾa] versus [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾae]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contará" or "contrae"?
"contará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,648 in our Spanish list, against #22,625 for "contrae". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "contará" and "contrae" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contará" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrae" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #181,496 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contará" and "contrae" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrae vs costra". 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 #181,496 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list