Which to use
“condamner” and “contaminer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,803
- “condamner” frequency rank
- #27,750
- “contaminer” frequency rank
- 35553
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | condamner | contaminer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Déclarer quelqu’un, par décision de justice, coupable d'un délit ou d'un crime et lui infliger la peine correspondante. | Souiller par le contact d’un objet impur ou malpropre. |
Where the eye mixes condamner and contaminer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. condamner runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against contaminer's 10 (CVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between condamner and contaminer
A purely visual mix-up. condamner (\kɔ̃.dɑ.ne\) and contaminer (\kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\) 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 35553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
condamner is recorded at frequency rank #7,803, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.dɑ.ne\. contaminer is at rank #27,750, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\.
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 35553, this pair ranks #275,886 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of condamner vs contaminer
Shared letters: acemnor. Private to "condamner": d. Private to "contaminer": it.
"condamner" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "contaminer" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- condamner ← ccondamner · cnodamner · codnamner · conadmner · condamenr · condammner · condamnerr · condamnner
- contaminer ← ccontaminer · cnotaminer · conatminer · conntaminer · contaimner · contamienr · contaminerr · contaminner
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "condamner" for "contaminer" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "condamner" or "contaminer" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "condamner" and "contaminer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "condamner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contaminer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #275,886 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "condamner" and "contaminer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contamine vs contaminer". 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 #275,886 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.