contraction
\kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\
The verdict
“contraction” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #12,749 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,749
- frequency rank, French
- 11
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Resserrement, par opposition à dilatation.
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 | contraction |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #12,749 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contraction” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for contraction is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #12,749 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 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for contraction, with forms such as "ccontraction", "cnotraction", and "conntraction". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "contractions", "contradiction", "construction", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is contraction, spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Resserrement, par opposition à dilatation.
- 2Resserrement instantané d'un muscle.
- 3Contractions importantes des muscles utérins avant et pendant l’accouchement.
- 4Réduction ou réunion de deux voyelles, de deux syllabes en une seule.
- 5Réduction de la graphie d’un mot en supprimant des lettres à l’intérieur de celui-ci, en conservant une ou plusieurs lettres initiales et une ou plusieurs lettres finales.
- 6Diminution du PIB sur une période définie.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccontraction,cnotraction,conntraction,conrtaction,contarction,contracction,contraciton,contractino,contractionn,contractoin,contracttion,contratcion,contrcation,contrraction,conttraction,cotnraction,ocntraction
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contraction - 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.
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 "contraction"?
What does "contraction" mean?
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Using “contraction”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “contractions” - see the side-by-side comparison. contraction vs contractions
- 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.