contaminer

\kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\

/\kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\/ verb

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

The verdict

“contaminer” has 15 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #27,750. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#27,750
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
15
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Souiller par le contact d’un objet impur ou malpropre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-contaminer · contaminer · French

contaminer · rank #27,750 · 15 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #27,750
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH continuerons

Nearest frequency peer: continuerons (+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 « contaminer »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « contaminer » 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).

contaminer vs condamner
80% similar
contaminer vs container
90% similar
contaminer vs contamine
90% similar

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

Key facts for contaminer
PropertyValue
Headwordcontaminer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\
Letters10
Frequency rank#27,750
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « contaminer »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).contaminerse 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 « continuerons » (#27,751), « conscription » (#27,748), « contribuera » (#27,752). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « contaminer » est au #27,750. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around contaminer (IPA \kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\), averb. Corpus frequency is #27,750 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for contaminer, with forms such as "ccontaminer", "cnotaminer", and "conatminer". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "condamner", "container", "contamine", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is contaminer, spelled C-O-N-T-A-M-I-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Souiller par le contact d’un objet impur ou malpropre.
  2. 2
    Infecter en introduisant dans un objet, un milieu, ou un organisme vivant des microorganismes, des germes, généralement pathogènes.
  3. 3
    Provoquer la contamination radioactive.
  4. 4
    Influencer quelque chose et le transformer.
  5. 5
    Infecter par la contagion.
  6. 6
    Changer la nature d’une chose, corrompre.
  7. 7
    Dénaturer.
  8. 8
    Être affecté par la présence ou par le contact de quelque chose.
  9. 9
    Altérer l’état physique d’un être vivant, rendre malade ou apte à propager une maladie.
  10. 10
    Gagner.
  11. 11
    Transmettre une maladie à une personne.
  12. 12
    Transmettre une maladie à une personne.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cependant l’écoulement de l’eau vers les dunes ne contamine pas l’eau du sous-sol de celles-ci, parce qu'elle se purifie par filtration horizontale dans le sable.
  2. Par contre, les kystes et les organes ne devraient jamais être laissés sur place afin d’éviter de contaminer les loups et les chiens, sinon le cycle du parasite continuera.

Synonyms

infectertransmettrepolluercontagiercontagionnervicieraltérerentacherflétrirsalirsouiller

Antonyms

décontaminerdépolluerdésinfecter

This word in other languages

contaminate(English)contaminar(Español)verseuchen(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccontaminer
  • cnotaminer
  • conatminer
  • conntaminer
  • contaimner
  • contamienr
  • contaminerr
  • contaminner
  • contaminre
  • contamminer
  • contamnier
  • contmainer
  • conttaminer
  • cotnaminer
  • ocntaminer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contaminer - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccontaminer1cnotaminer2conatminer2conntaminer1contaimner2contamienr2contaminerr1contaminner1
Edit distance from "contaminer"

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 "contaminer"?
"contaminer" is spelled C-O-N-T-A-M-I-N-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\.
What does "contaminer" mean?
As a verb, "contaminer" means: Souiller par le contact d’un objet impur ou malpropre.
What words are commonly confused with "contaminer"?
"contaminer" is commonly confused with "condamner", "container", "contamine". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "contaminer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "contaminer" is \kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "contaminer" come from?
"contaminer" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "contaminer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

conjecture#27,747complétées#27,741Courbevoie#27,759césarienne#27,761

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

colocataire15 variantsdésastres15 variantsfleurissent15 variantsacquièrent15 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list