Which to use
“cont” and “corte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,949
- “cont” frequency rank
- #27,386
- “corte” frequency rank
- 72335
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cont | corte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Compte. | Cour. |
Where the eye mixes cont and corte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cont runs 4 letters (CVCC) against corte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cont and corte
A purely visual mix-up. cont (\ˈkont\) and corte (\ˈkɔr.te\) 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 72335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cont is recorded at frequency rank #44,949, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkont\. corte is at rank #27,386, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔr.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 72335, this pair ranks #44,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cont vs corte
Shared letters: cot. Private to "cont": n. Private to "corte": er.
"cont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cont" and "corte" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cont" or "corte" show up more?
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 "cont" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "corte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cont" and "corte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs cont". 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 #44,349 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.