Which to use
“contenaient” and “contenait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,114
- “contenaient” frequency rank
- #12,345
- “contenait” frequency rank
- 40459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contenaient | contenait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de contenir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de contenir. |
Same sound, different letters: contenaient vs contenait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. contenaient runs 11 letters (CVCCVCVVVCC) against contenait's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - contenaient and contenait
This is the hard kind. contenaient and contenait are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃.tə.nɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contenaient is recorded at frequency rank #28,114, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tə.nɛ\. contenait is at rank #12,345, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tə.nɛ\.
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 40459, this pair ranks #240,338 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contenaient vs contenait
Shared letters: aceinot. Private to "contenaient": -. Private to "contenait": -.
"contenaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVVVCC · "contenait" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contenaient ← ccontenaient · cnotenaient · conetnaient · conntenaient · conteanient · contenaeint · contenaiennt · contenaientt
- contenait ← ccontenait · cnotenait · conetnait · conntenait · conteanit · contenaitt · contenati · conteniat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contenaient" for "contenait" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "contenaient" or "contenait" show up more?
Useful next steps
"contenaient" and "contenait" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "contenaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contenait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #240,338 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contenaient" and "contenait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concernaient vs contenaient". 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 #240,338 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.