contrarier
\kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁje\
The verdict
“contrarier” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #25,949 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #25,949
- frequency rank, French
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Empêcher d’agir, d’aboutir.
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 | contrarier |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁje\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #25,949 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contrarier” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for contrarier is 10 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁje\. Corpus data places it at rank #25,949 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for contrarier, with forms such as "ccontrarier", "cnotrarier", and "conntrarier". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "contrario", "contrariété", "contrarie", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is contrarier, spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-R-I-E-R.
Definition
- 1Empêcher d’agir, d’aboutir.
- 2Chagriner, causer du dépit par des actions ou des paroles.
- 3S’opposer à une ou plusieurs personnes par ses actions ou par ses paroles.
- 4Faire passer un fil, tantôt dessus, tantôt dessous un autre fil qu’il rencontre.
- 5En décoration, diversifier les couleurs en les mélangeant, opposer une couleur à une autre.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccontrarier,cnotrarier,conntrarier,conrtarier,contarrier,contrairer,contrareir,contrarierr,contrarire,contrarrier,contrraier,contrrarier,conttrarier,cotnrarier,ocntrarier
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contrarier - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "contrarier"?
What does "contrarier" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "contrarier"?
How do you pronounce "contrarier"?
What language does "contrarier" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “contrarier”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-N-T-R-A-R-I-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁje\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “contrario” - see the side-by-side comparison. contrarier vs contrario
- 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.