Which to use
“contagion” and “contusion” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,894
- “contagion” frequency rank
- #44,954
- “contusion” frequency rank
- 66848
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contagion | contusion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Propagation d’une maladie transmissible par un contact direct ou différé, infection, contamination. | Lésion produite par un corps contondant. |
Where the eye mixes contagion and contusion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. contagion and contusion follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: contagion vs contusion
A purely visual mix-up. contagion (\kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\) and contusion (\kɔ̃.ty.zjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contagion is recorded at frequency rank #21,894, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ta.ʒjɔ̃\. contusion is at rank #44,954, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ty.zjɔ̃\.
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 66848, this pair ranks #66,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contagion vs contusion
Shared letters: cinot. Private to "contagion": ag. Private to "contusion": su.
"contagion" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "contusion" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contagion" and "contusion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "contagion" vs "contusion" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "contagion" and "contusion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contagion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contusion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contagion" and "contusion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contusion vs contusions". 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 #66,003 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.