contour
\kɔ̃.tuʁ\
The verdict
“contour” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #16,845 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,845
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Limite externe de la surface d’un corps, surtout en parlant des objets arrondis.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | contour |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.tuʁ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #16,845 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contour” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for contour is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ̃.tuʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #16,845 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for contour, with forms such as "ccontour", "cnotour", and "conntour". 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 13 confusable-pair relationships, "contrer", "contours", "contourne", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is contour, spelled C-O-N-T-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1Limite externe de la surface d’un corps, surtout en parlant des objets arrondis.
- 2Silhouette, profil, périmètre, ligne de délinéation.
- 3Enceinte.
- 4Virage.
- 5Trait délimitant une surface.
- 6Trait ou ligne de changement de couleur ou de valeur d'un graphisme, qui en délimite l'ensemble ou des éléments.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccontour,cnotour,conntour,conotur,contoru,contourr,conttour,contuor,cotnour,ocntour
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contour - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "contour"?
What does "contour" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “contour”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-N-T-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ̃.tuʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “contrer” - see the side-by-side comparison. contour vs contrer
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.