contrepoids

\kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\

/\kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\/ noun

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

The verdict

“contrepoids” has 17 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #30,111. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#30,111
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
17
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Poids servant à contrebalancer une force opposée ou à en modérer l’action.

Corpus desk

Index FR-contrepoids · contrepoids · French

contrepoids · rank #30,111 · 17 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #30,111
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 17 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH continus

Nearest frequency peer: continus (-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 « contrepoids »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « contrepoids » 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).

contrepoids vs contrepoint
82% similar

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

Key facts for contrepoids
PropertyValue
Headwordcontrepoids
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\
Letters11
Frequency rank#30,111
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « contrepoids »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).contrepoidsse 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 « continus » (#30,110), « contrôlait » (#30,112), « container » (#30,109). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « contrepoids » est au #30,111. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 17 spelling variants around contrepoids (IPA \kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #30,111 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for contrepoids, with forms such as "ccontrepoids", "cnotrepoids", and "conntrepoids". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "contrepoint", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is contrepoids, spelled C-O-N-T-R-E-P-O-I-D-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Poids servant à contrebalancer une force opposée ou à en modérer l’action.
  2. 2
    Ce qui sert à contrebalancer des affections, des qualités bonnes ou mauvaises, et en général de toutes les choses morales, politiques, etc., qui servent à en contrebalancer d’autres.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Armé de sa hache, il assaillit la poterne à coups redoublés, protégé en partie contre les traits et les pierres lancés des remparts par les décombres du premier pont-levis, que le templier avait démoli en abandonnant la barbacane, laissant le contrepoids encore fixé à la partie supérieure de l’entrée.
  2. On ne saura jamais ce qu’on peut faire avec un contrepoids ! Un enfant peut, de son petit doigt, faire tourner une maison… quand un pan de mur, si lourd soit-il, est amené par le contrepoids sur son pivot, bien en équilibre, il ne pèse pas plus qu’une toupie sur sa pointe.

This word in other languages

counterweight(English)contrapeso(Español)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccontrepoids
  • cnotrepoids
  • conntrepoids
  • conrtepoids
  • conterpoids
  • contreopids
  • contrepiods
  • contrepodis
  • contrepoidds
  • contrepoidss
  • contrepoisd
  • contreppoids
  • contrpeoids
  • contrrepoids
  • conttrepoids
  • cotnrepoids
  • ocntrepoids

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contrepoids - 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.

ccontrepoids1cnotrepoids2conntrepoids1conrtepoids2conterpoids2contreopids2contrepiods2contrepodis2
Edit distance from "contrepoids"

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 "contrepoids"?
"contrepoids" is spelled C-O-N-T-R-E-P-O-I-D-S. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\.
What does "contrepoids" mean?
As a noun, "contrepoids" means: Poids servant à contrebalancer une force opposée ou à en modérer l’action.
What words are commonly confused with "contrepoids"?
"contrepoids" is commonly confused with "contrepoint". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "contrepoids"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "contrepoids" is \kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "contrepoids" come from?
"contrepoids" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "contrepoids", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

cultivateur#30,119entretenues#30,149bilatérales#30,072envahisseur#30,150

Similar misspelling depth

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

extravagant17 variantsfréquentées17 variantsfurieusement17 variantsabstentions17 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list