Which to use
“cintre” and “conte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,297
- “cintre” frequency rank
- #4,741
- “conte” frequency rank
- 31038
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cintre | conte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Courbure en arcade, en demi-cercle. | Récit d’aventures imaginaires, soit qu’elles aient de la vraisemblance ou que s’y mêle du merveilleux, du féerique. |
Where the eye mixes cintre and conte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cintre and conte
A purely visual mix-up. cintre (\sɛ̃tʁ\) and conte (\kɔ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cintre is recorded at frequency rank #26,297, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛ̃tʁ\. conte is at rank #4,741, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\.
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 31038, this pair ranks #306,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cintre vs conte
Shared letters: cent. Private to "cintre": ir. Private to "conte": o.
"cintre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "conte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cintre" for "conte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cintre" vs "conte" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cintre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "conte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #306,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cintre" and "conte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cendré vs cintre". 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 #306,394 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.