contrefaire

\kɔ̃.tʁə.fɛʁ\

/\kɔ̃.tʁə.fɛʁ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“contrefaire” is uncommon French (frequency #84,660 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,660
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Imiter une personne, une chose.

Corpus desk

Index FR-contrefaire · contrefaire · French

contrefaire · rank #84,660 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #84,660
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH constans

Nearest frequency peer: constans (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « contrefaire »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « contrefaire » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for contrefaire
PropertyValue
Headwordcontrefaire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\kɔ̃.tʁə.fɛʁ\
Letters11
Frequency rank#84,660
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « contrefaire » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.contrefairetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « constans » (#84,659), « controls » (#84,662), « consistoires » (#84,657). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « contrefaire » est au #84,660. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

contrefaire is uncommon French at frequency #84,660 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \kɔ̃.tʁə.fɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for contrefaire, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is contrefaire, spelled C-O-N-T-R-E-F-A-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Imiter une personne, une chose.
  2. 2
    Copier les autres, dans le dessein de les tourner en ridicule.
  3. 3
    Feindre d’être ce qu’on n’est pas.
  4. 4
    Imiter par contrefaçon, par contrefaction.
  5. 5
    Déguiser.
  6. 6
    Rendre difforme, défigurer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Contrefaire quelqu’un.
  2. Contrefaire la voix, les gestes d’un autre.

Synonyms

falsifier

This word in other languages

counterfeit(English)contrahacer(Español)

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 "contrefaire"?
"contrefaire" is spelled C-O-N-T-R-E-F-A-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.tʁə.fɛʁ\.
What does "contrefaire" mean?
As a verb, "contrefaire" means: Imiter une personne, une chose.
How do you pronounce "contrefaire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "contrefaire" is \kɔ̃.tʁə.fɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "contrefaire" come from?
"contrefaire" 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 "contrefaire", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

comprenions#84,651cinémascope#84,637césariennes#84,684chrysalides#84,636

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list