Which to use
“congés” is a noun and “conter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,826
- “congés” frequency rank
- #30,538
- “conter” frequency rank
- 39364
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | congés | conter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de congé. | Exposer par un récit. Il se dit principalement de récits que l’on fait dans la conversation. |
Where the eye mixes congés and conter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses congés with conter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: congés is \kɔ̃.ʒe\ while conter is \kɔ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
congés is recorded at frequency rank #8,826, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ʒe\. conter is at rank #30,538, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\.
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 39364, this pair ranks #248,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of congés vs conter
Shared letters: cno. Private to "congés": gsé. Private to "conter": ert.
"congés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "conter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- conter ← cconter · cnoter · conetr · connter · contter · cotner · ocnter
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "congés" and "conter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "congés" or "conter" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "congés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "conter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #248,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "congés" and "conter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs conter". 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 #248,551 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.