constantesvscontentésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: constantes is a adjective, contentés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“constantes” is an adjective and “contentés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,843
“constantes” frequency rank
#43,862
“contentés” frequency rank
60705
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature constantes contentés
Definition Féminin pluriel de constant. Participe passé masculin pluriel de contenter.

Where the eye mixes constantes and contentés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. constantes runs 10 letters (CVCCCVCCVC) against contentés's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
constantes
9 ch
contentés

Why the eye confuses constantes with contentés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: constantes is \kɔ̃s.tɑ̃t\ while contentés is \kɔ̃.tɑ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

constantes is recorded at frequency rank #16,843, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃s.tɑ̃t\. contentés is at rank #43,862, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɑ̃.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 60705, this pair ranks #96,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of constantes vs contentés

Shared letters: cenost. Private to "constantes": a. Private to "contentés": é.

"constantes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC  ·  "contentés" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • constantes ← cconstantes · cnostantes · connstantes · consatntes · consstantes · constanets · constanntes · constantess

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "constantes" for "contentés" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "constantes" is an adjective and "contentés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "constantes" or "contentés"?
"constantes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,843 in our French list, against #43,862 for "contentés". 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 "constantes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contentés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #96,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "constantes" and "contentés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contentés 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 #96,242 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