tout au contraire
\tu.t‿o kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ\
The verdict
“tout au contraire” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as an adverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Au contraire.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tout au contraire |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \tu.t‿o kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tout au contraire” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for tout au contraire is 17 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tu.t‿o kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Au contraire.".
tout au contraire has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is tout au contraire, spelled T-O-U-T- -A-U- -C-O-N-T-R-A-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1Au contraire.
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "tout au contraire"?
What does "tout au contraire" mean?
How do you pronounce "tout au contraire"?
What language does "tout au contraire" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tout au contraire”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-O-U-T- -A-U- -C-O-N-T-R-A-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tu.t‿o kɔ̃.tʁɛʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.