contagion

\kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\

/\kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“contagion” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #21,894. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#21,894
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Propagation d’une maladie transmissible par un contact direct ou différé, infection, contamination.

Corpus desk

Index FR-contagion · contagion · French

contagion · rank #21,894 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #21,894
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH consentir

Nearest frequency peer: consentir (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « contagion »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « contagion » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

contagion vs cotation
78% similar
contagion vs contusion
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for contagion
PropertyValue
Headwordcontagion
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\
Letters9
Frequency rank#21,894
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « contagion »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.contagionse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « consentir » (#21,893), « corbeaux » (#21,895), « conforter » (#21,892). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « contagion » est au #21,894. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around contagion (IPA \kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #21,894 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for contagion, with forms such as "ccontagion", "cnotagion", and "conatgion". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "cotation", "contusion", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is contagion, spelled C-O-N-T-A-G-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Propagation d’une maladie transmissible par un contact direct ou différé, infection, contamination.
  2. 2
    La maladie qui se communique par ce contact.
  3. 3
    Habitude commune considérée comme néfaste.
  4. 4
    Communication (d'un comportement bon ou mauvais) par la fréquentation ou par l’exemple.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how contagion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ce mal se prend par contagion.
  2. Pendant la contagion.

This word in other languages

contagion(English)contagio(Español)contágio(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccontagion
  • cnotagion
  • conatgion
  • conntagion
  • contaggion
  • contagino
  • contagionn
  • contagoin
  • contaigon
  • contgaion
  • conttagion
  • cotnagion
  • ocntagion

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contagion - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ccontagion1cnotagion2conatgion2conntagion1contaggion1contagino2contagionn1contagoin2
Edit distance from "contagion"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "contagion"?
"contagion" is spelled C-O-N-T-A-G-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\.
What does "contagion" mean?
As a noun, "contagion" means: Propagation d’une maladie transmissible par un contact direct ou différé, infection, contamination.
What words are commonly confused with "contagion"?
"contagion" is commonly confused with "cotation", "contusion". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "contagion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "contagion" is \kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "contagion" come from?
"contagion" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "contagion", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

consentir#21,893conforter#21,892Depardieu#21,907caissière#21,879

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

complots13 variantsdivulguer13 variantsdélicats13 variantsdéposent13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list