contention

\kɔ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\

/\kɔ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“contention” has 15 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #41,193. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#41,193
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
15
tracked misspellings
8
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action de tendre fortement les facultés intellectuelles vers quelque chose.

Corpus desk

Index FR-contention · contention · French

contention · rank #41,193 · 15 variants · 8 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #41,193
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH contenterai

Nearest frequency peer: contenterai (-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 « contention »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « contention » 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).

contention vs Cotentin
70% similar
contention vs convention
90% similar
contention vs convection
80% similar

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

Key facts for contention
PropertyValue
Headwordcontention
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#41,193
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « contention »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).contentionse 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 « contenterai » (#41,192), « contrastées » (#41,194), « contamine » (#41,191). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « contention » est au #41,193. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around contention (IPA \kɔ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #41,193 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for contention, with forms such as "ccontention", "cnotention", and "conetntion". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "Cotentin", "convention", "convection", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is contention, spelled C-O-N-T-E-N-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action de tendre fortement les facultés intellectuelles vers quelque chose.
  2. 2
    Débat, dispute.
  3. 3
    Dispositif destiné à une immobilisation de tout ou partie du corps.
  4. 4
    Action destinée à une immobilisation une contrainte par corps.
  5. 5
    Dispositif pour maintenir une dent branlante.
  6. 6
    Ensemble de techniques destinées à manipuler des animaux.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il travaille à cet ouvrage, il s’y applique avec une grande contention d’esprit, avec une grande contention.
  2. Une trop forte contention d’esprit, une trop forte contention peut altérer la santé.

Synonyms

attentionconcentration

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccontention
  • cnotention
  • conetntion
  • conntention
  • conteniton
  • contenntion
  • contentino
  • contentionn
  • contentoin
  • contenttion
  • contetnion
  • contnetion
  • conttention
  • cotnention
  • ocntention

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ccontention1cnotention2conetntion2conntention1conteniton2contenntion1contentino2contentionn1
Edit distance from "contention"

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 "contention"?
"contention" is spelled C-O-N-T-E-N-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\.
What does "contention" mean?
As a noun, "contention" means: Action de tendre fortement les facultés intellectuelles vers quelque chose.
What words are commonly confused with "contention"?
"contention" is commonly confused with "Cotentin", "convention", "convection". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "contention"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "contention" is \kɔ̃.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "contention" come from?
"contention" 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 "contention", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

contusions#41,195corporatif#41,197divergente#41,224boulangère#41,154

Similar misspelling depth

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

collégiales15 variantsbavardages15 variantsdépollution15 variantsarticulent15 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list