contaminevscontaminéesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,191
“contamine” frequency rank
#40,690
“contaminées” frequency rank
81881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contamine contaminées
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de contaminer. Participe passé féminin pluriel de contaminer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set contamine and contaminées apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
contamine
11 ch
contaminées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. contamine (\kɔ̃.ta.min\) and contaminées (\kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\) 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 81881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contamine is recorded at frequency rank #41,191, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ta.min\. contaminées is at rank #40,690, 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 81881, this pair ranks #17,868 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contamine vs contaminées

Shared letters: aceimnot. Private to "contamine": -. Private to "contaminées": .

"contamine" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "contaminées" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contamineccontamine · cnotamine · conatmine · conntamine · contaimne · contamien · contaminne · contammine

Frequency comparison

contamine#41,191
contaminées#40,690

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contamine" and "contaminées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.ta.min\ versus \kɔ̃.ta.mi.ne\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contamine" or "contaminées"?
"contaminées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,690 in our French list, against #41,191 for "contamine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering contamine vs contaminées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “contamine” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list