connuesvscontenuesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,019
“connues” frequency rank
#15,338
“contenues” frequency rank
20357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature connues contenues
Definition Féminin pluriel de connu. Féminin pluriel de contenu.

Where the eye mixes connues and contenues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
connues
9 ch
contenues

Visual trap between connues and contenues

A purely visual mix-up. connues (\kɔ.ny\) and contenues (\kɔ̃t.ny\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

connues is recorded at frequency rank #5,019, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.ny\. contenues is at rank #15,338, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃t.ny\.

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 20357, this pair ranks #368,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of connues vs contenues

Shared letters: cenosu. Private to "connues": -. Private to "contenues": t.

"connues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "contenues" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • connuescconnues · cnonues · conneus · connuess · connuse · conues · conunes · ocnnues
  • contenuesccontenues · cnotenues · conetnues · conntenues · conteneus · contennues · contenuess · contenuse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "connues" for "contenues" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.ny\ versus \kɔ̃t.ny\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "connues" or "contenues"?
"connues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,019 in our French list, against #15,338 for "contenues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "connues" and "contenues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "connues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contenues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #368,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "connues" and "contenues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contenues vs convenues". 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 #368,686 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