Which to use
“contenaient” and “continuaient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,114
- “contenaient” frequency rank
- #23,495
- “continuaient” frequency rank
- 51609
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contenaient | continuaient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de contenir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de continuer. |
Where the eye mixes contenaient and continuaient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. contenaient runs 11 letters (CVCCVCVVVCC) against continuaient's 12 (CVCCVCVVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between contenaient and continuaient
A purely visual mix-up. contenaient (\kɔ̃.tə.nɛ\) and continuaient (\kɔ̃.ti.nɥɛ\) 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 51609, 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\. continuaient is at rank #23,495, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ti.nɥɛ\.
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 51609, this pair ranks #153,745 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contenaient vs continuaient
Shared letters: aceinot. Private to "contenaient": -. Private to "continuaient": u.
"contenaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVVVCC · "continuaient" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contenaient ← ccontenaient · cnotenaient · conetnaient · conntenaient · conteanient · contenaeint · contenaiennt · contenaientt
- continuaient ← ccontinuaient · cnotinuaient · conitnuaient · conntinuaient · continauient · continnuaient · continuaeint · continuaiennt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contenaient" for "continuaient" ever safe?
Frequency check: "contenaient" vs "continuaient" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "contenaient" and "continuaient" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contenaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "continuaient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,745 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contenaient" and "continuaient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "continuaient vs continuais". 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 #153,745 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.