contresens

\kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s\

/\kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s\/ noun

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

The verdict

“contresens” has 16 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #30,541. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#30,541
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
16
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sens contraire au sens naturel d’une proposition, d’une phrase, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-contresens · contresens · French

contresens · rank #30,541 · 16 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #30,541
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 16 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH contredisent

Nearest frequency peer: contredisent (-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 « contresens »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « contresens » 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).

contresens vs contrées
70% similar

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

Key facts for contresens
PropertyValue
Headwordcontresens
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s\
Letters10
Frequency rank#30,541
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « contresens »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).contresensse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « contredisent » (#30,540), « convexe » (#30,542), « contracte » (#30,539). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « contresens » est au #30,541. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 16 spelling variants around contresens (IPA \kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #30,541 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for contresens, with forms such as "ccontresens", "cnotresens", and "conntresens". 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, "contrées", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is contresens, spelled C-O-N-T-R-E-S-E-N-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sens contraire au sens naturel d’une proposition, d’une phrase, etc.
  2. 2
    Tout sens différent du sens véritable d’un texte.
  3. 3
    Toute manière de lire, de prononcer, de déclamer, etc., qui ne s’accorde pas avec le sens des paroles.
  4. 4
    Dans le code de la route français, ainsi que dans la législation belge, le sens opposé au sens de circulation des véhicules.
  5. 5
    En parlant d’étoffes, du linge et d’autres choses, sens contraire à celui où ils doivent être.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Vous interprétez mal ce que je dis vous prenez le contresens de mes paroles.
  2. J’ai souvent trouvé du reste que les mélancolies des printemps dépassent celles des automnes, sans doute parce qu’elles sont un contresens, une déception sur la seule chose du monde qui devrait au moins ne jamais nous manquer.

Synonyms

à l’envers

This word in other languages

misinterpretation(English)contrasentido(Español)Widersinn(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccontresens
  • cnotresens
  • conntresens
  • conrtesens
  • contersens
  • contreesns
  • contresenns
  • contresenss
  • contresesn
  • contresnes
  • contressens
  • contrresens
  • contrseens
  • conttresens
  • cotnresens
  • ocntresens

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ccontresens1cnotresens2conntresens1conrtesens2contersens2contreesns2contresenns1contresenss1
Edit distance from "contresens"

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 "contresens"?
"contresens" is spelled C-O-N-T-R-E-S-E-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s\.
What does "contresens" mean?
As a noun, "contresens" means: Sens contraire au sens naturel d’une proposition, d’une phrase, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "contresens"?
"contresens" is commonly confused with "contrées". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "contresens"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "contresens" is \kɔ̃.tʁə.sɑ̃s\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "contresens" come from?
"contresens" 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 "contresens", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

consommant#30,537conseillée#30,536confusions#30,535commandent#30,530

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (16 here; floor ≥5).

culpabilise16 variantsclignotant16 variantsdétournent16 variantsentêtement16 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list