contraction

\kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\

/\kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“contraction” has 17 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #12,749. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,749
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
17
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Resserrement, par opposition à dilatation.

Corpus desk

Index FR-contraction · contraction · French

contraction · rank #12,749 · 17 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,749
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 17 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH continuons

Nearest frequency peer: continuons (-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 « contraction »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « contraction » 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).

contraction vs contractions
92% similar
contraction vs contradiction
85% similar
contraction vs construction
83% similar

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

Key facts for contraction
PropertyValue
Headwordcontraction
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\
Letters11
Frequency rank#12,749
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « contraction »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).contractionse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « continuons » (#12,748), « contraints » (#12,750), « consécutifs » (#12,747). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « contraction » est au #12,749. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 17 spelling variants around contraction (IPA \kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,749 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

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

  1. 1
    Resserrement, par opposition à dilatation.
  2. 2
    Resserrement instantané d'un muscle.
  3. 3
    Contractions importantes des muscles utérins avant et pendant l’accouchement.
  4. 4
    Réduction ou réunion de deux voyelles, de deux syllabes en une seule.
  5. 5
    Réduction 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.
  6. 6
    Diminution du PIB sur une période définie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Contraction des corps.
  2. L’eau nécessaire à la respiration pénètre par l’une des ouvertures, est chassée par l’autre, grâce aux contractions du manteau, et, sortant avec rapidité, refoule pour ainsi dire en sens contraire l’animal, qui nage seulement à l’aide des mouvemens respiratoires.

Antonyms

dilatation

This word in other languages

contraction(English)contracción(Español)Zusammenziehung(Deutsch)contracção(Português)

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.

ccontraction1cnotraction2conntraction1conrtaction2contarction2contracction1contraciton2contractino2
Edit distance from "contraction"

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"?
"contraction" is spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\.
What does "contraction" mean?
As a noun, "contraction" means: Resserrement, par opposition à dilatation.
What words are commonly confused with "contraction"?
"contraction" is commonly confused with "contractions", "contradiction", "construction". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "contraction"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "contraction" is \kɔ̃.tʁak.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "contraction" come from?
"contraction" 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 "contraction", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

consécutifs#12,747compatibles#12,745corrélation#12,753criminelles#12,755

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (17 here; floor ≥5).

géopolitique17 variantsacquisitions17 variantsnotification17 variantsrespiratoire17 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list