centrésvscontrerConfusable pair

Quick tell: centrés is a adjective, contrer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“centrés” is an adjective and “contrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,730
“centrés” frequency rank
#8,979
“contrer” frequency rank
41709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature centrés contrer
Definition Masculin pluriel de centré. Annoncer que l'on tient contre celui qui a le premier déclaré qu'il jouait, et qu'on compte le punir sévèrement.

Where the eye mixes centrés and contrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. centrés and contrer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
centrés
7 ch
contrer

Look-alike desk: centrés vs contrer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: centrés is \sɑ̃.tʁe\ while contrer is \kɔ̃.tʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

centrés is recorded at frequency rank #32,730, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.tʁe\. contrer is at rank #8,979, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁe\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 41709, this pair ranks #231,087 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of centrés vs contrer

Shared letters: cenrt. Private to "centrés": sé. Private to "contrer": o.

"centrés" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "contrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contrer ← ccontrer · cnotrer · conntrer · conrter · conterr · contrerr · contrrer · conttrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "centrés" for "contrer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "centrés" is an adjective and "contrer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "centrés" or "contrer"?
"contrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,979 in our French list, against #32,730 for "centrés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "centrés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #231,087 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "centrés" and "contrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "centrés vs congres". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #231,087 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list