confiervscontrerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,847
“confier” frequency rank
#8,979
“contrer” frequency rank
14826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature confier contrer
Definition Commettre quelqu’un ou quelque chose à la probité, au soin, à l’habileté de quelqu’un. Annoncer que l'on tient contre celui qui a le premier déclaré qu'il jouait, et qu'on compte le punir sévèrement.

Where the eye mixes confier and contrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. confier (CVCCVVC) and contrer (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
confier
7 ch
contrer

Look-alike desk: confier vs contrer

A purely visual mix-up. confier (\kɔ̃.fje\) and contrer (\kɔ̃.tʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

confier is recorded at frequency rank #5,847, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.fje\. contrer is at rank #8,979, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁe\.

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 14826, this pair ranks #395,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of confier vs contrer

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "confier": fi. Private to "contrer": t.

"confier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "contrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • confier ← cconfier · cnofier · cofnier · confeir · conffier · confierr · confire · conifer
  • contrer ← ccontrer · cnotrer · conntrer · conrter · conterr · contrerr · contrrer · conttrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "confier" for "contrer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.fje\ versus \kɔ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "confier" or "contrer" show up more?
"confier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,847 in our French list, against #8,979 for "contrer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "confier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #395,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "confier" and "contrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congres vs contrer". 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 #395,052 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