Which to use
“concours” and “contour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,057
- “concours” frequency rank
- #16,845
- “contour” frequency rank
- 17902
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | concours | contour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de tendre vers un même but, de coopérer. | Limite externe de la surface d’un corps, surtout en parlant des objets arrondis. |
Where the eye mixes concours and contour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. concours runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against contour's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: concours vs contour
A purely visual mix-up. concours (\kɔ̃.kuʁ\) and contour (\kɔ̃.tuʁ\) 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 17902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
concours is recorded at frequency rank #1,057, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.kuʁ\. contour is at rank #16,845, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tuʁ\.
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 17902, this pair ranks #380,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of concours vs contour
Shared letters: cnoru. Private to "concours": s. Private to "contour": t.
"concours" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "contour" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "concours" for "contour" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "concours" or "contour" show up more?
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 "concours" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #380,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "concours" and "contour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cantor vs contour". 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 #380,911 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.