coincervsconterTell them apart

Which to use

“coincer” and “conter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,520
“coincer” frequency rank
#30,538
“conter” frequency rank
55058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coincer conter
Definition Enfoncer des coins pour écarter, fendre. Exposer par un récit. Il se dit principalement de récits que l’on fait dans la conversation.

Where the eye mixes coincer and conter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
coincer
6 ch
conter

Why the eye confuses coincer with conter

A purely visual mix-up. coincer (\kwɛ̃.se\) and conter (\kɔ̃.te\) 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 55058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coincer is recorded at frequency rank #24,520, classified as averb, pronounced \kwɛ̃.se\. conter is at rank #30,538, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\.

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 55058, this pair ranks #129,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coincer vs conter

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "coincer": i. Private to "conter": t.

"coincer" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "conter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coincerccoincer · cioncer · coicner · coinccer · coincerr · coincre · coinecr · coinncer
  • contercconter · cnoter · conetr · connter · contter · cotner · ocnter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coincer" for "conter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kwɛ̃.se\ versus \kɔ̃.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "coincer" vs "conter" - which ranks higher?
"coincer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,520 in our French list, against #30,538 for "conter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coincer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "conter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coincer" and "conter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs conter". 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 #129,932 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