confusionsvscontusionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,535
“confusions” frequency rank
#44,954
“contusion” frequency rank
75489
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature confusions contusion
Definition Pluriel de confusion. Lésion produite par un corps contondant.

Where the eye mixes confusions and contusion

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

10 ch
confusions
9 ch
contusion

Look-alike desk: confusions vs contusion

A purely visual mix-up. confusions (\kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\) and contusion (\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 75489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

confusions is recorded at frequency rank #30,535, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.fy.zjɔ̃\. contusion is at rank #44,954, 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 75489, this pair ranks #33,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of confusions vs contusion

Shared letters: cinosu. Private to "confusions": f. Private to "contusion": t.

"confusions" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCC  ·  "contusion" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • confusions ← cconfusions · cnofusions · cofnusions · conffusions · confsuions · confuisons · confusinos · confusionns
  • contusion ← ccontusion · cnotusion · conntusion · contsuion · conttusion · contuison · contusino · contusionn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "confusions" for "contusion" 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.
Frequency check: "confusions" vs "contusion" - which ranks higher?
"confusions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,535 in our French list, against #44,954 for "contusion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "confusions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contusion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,938 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "confusions" and "contusion" 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 #33,938 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