Which to use
“container” is a noun and “contaminer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,109
- “container” frequency rank
- #27,750
- “contaminer” frequency rank
- 57859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | container | contaminer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Conteneur. | Souiller par le contact d’un objet impur ou malpropre. |
Where the eye mixes container and contaminer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses container with contaminer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: container is \kɔ̃.tɛ.nɛʁ\ while contaminer is \kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
container is recorded at frequency rank #30,109, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛ.nɛʁ\. contaminer is at rank #27,750, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\.
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 57859, this pair ranks #112,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of container vs contaminer
Shared letters: aceinort. Private to "container": -. Private to "contaminer": m.
"container" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC · "contaminer" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- container ← ccontainer · cnotainer · conatiner · conntainer · contaienr · containerr · containner · containre
- contaminer ← ccontaminer · cnotaminer · conatminer · conntaminer · contaimner · contamienr · contaminerr · contaminner
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "container" for "contaminer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "container" vs "contaminer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "container" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contaminer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #112,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "container" and "contaminer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "confiner vs container". 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 #112,516 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.