confusionvscontusionsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,927
“confusion” frequency rank
#41,195
“contusions” frequency rank
46122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature confusion contusions
Definition État de ce qui est confus, en parlant des choses physiques et des choses morales. Pluriel de contusion.

Where the eye mixes confusion and contusions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. confusion runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against contusions's 10 (CVCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
confusion
10 ch
contusions

Look-alike desk: confusion vs contusions

A purely visual mix-up. confusion (\kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\) and contusions (\kɔ̃.ty.zjɔ̃\) 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 46122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

confusion is recorded at frequency rank #4,927, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\. contusions is at rank #41,195, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ty.zjɔ̃\.

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 46122, this pair ranks #197,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of confusion vs contusions

Shared letters: cinosu. Private to "confusion": f. Private to "contusions": t.

"confusion" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "contusions" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • confusion ← cconfusion · cnofusion · cofnusion · conffusion · confsuion · confuison · confusino · confusionn
  • contusions ← ccontusions · cnotusions · conntusions · contsuions · conttusions · contuisons · contusinos · contusionns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "confusion" for "contusions" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\ versus \kɔ̃.ty.zjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "confusion" or "contusions"?
"confusion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,927 in our French list, against #41,195 for "contusions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "confusion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contusions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #197,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "confusion" and "contusions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contusion vs contusions". 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 #197,427 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