conjurervscontrerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#39,233
“conjurer” frequency rank
#8,979
“contrer” frequency rank
48212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conjurer contrer
Definition Prier instamment. 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 conjurer and contrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. conjurer runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against contrer's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
conjurer
7 ch
contrer

Why the eye confuses conjurer with contrer

A purely visual mix-up. conjurer (\kɔ̃.ʒy.ʁe\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conjurer is recorded at frequency rank #39,233, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ʒy.ʁe\. 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 48212, this pair ranks #180,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of conjurer vs contrer

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "conjurer": ju. Private to "contrer": t.

"conjurer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "contrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • conjurer ← cconjurer · cnojurer · cojnurer · conjjurer · conjruer · conjuerr · conjurerr · conjurre
  • contrer ← ccontrer · cnotrer · conntrer · conrter · conterr · contrerr · contrrer · conttrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "conjurer" for "contrer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.ʒy.ʁe\ versus \kɔ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "conjurer" or "contrer"?
"contrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,979 in our French list, against #39,233 for "conjurer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "conjurer" 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 #180,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conjurer" and "contrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conférer vs conjurer". 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 #180,741 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