concisvscontesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: concis is a adjective, contes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“concis” is an adjective and “contes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,896
“concis” frequency rank
#6,803
“contes” frequency rank
38699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concis contes
Definition Qui exprime quelque chose le plus clairement possible avec un nombre de mots restreint. Pluriel de conte.

Where the eye mixes concis and contes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
concis
6 ch
contes

Why the eye confuses concis with contes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: concis is \kɔ̃.si\ while contes is \kɔ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concis is recorded at frequency rank #31,896, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.si\. contes is at rank #6,803, 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 38699, this pair ranks #253,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of concis vs contes

Shared letters: cnos. Private to "concis": i. Private to "contes": et.

"concis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "contes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • conciscconcis · cnocis · cocnis · conccis · conciss · concsi · conics · conncis
  • contesccontes · cnotes · conets · conntes · contess · contse · conttes · cotnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "concis" and "contes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "concis" is an adjective and "contes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "concis" or "contes"?
"contes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,803 in our French list, against #31,896 for "concis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "concis" and "contes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "concis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concis" and "contes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concis vs confits". 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 #253,421 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