Which to use
“contenait” and “contentait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,345
- “contenait” frequency rank
- #35,439
- “contentait” frequency rank
- 47784
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contenait | contentait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de contenir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de contenter. |
Where the eye mixes contenait and contentait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contenait runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against contentait's 10 (CVCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between contenait and contentait
A purely visual mix-up. contenait (\kɔ̃.tə.nɛ\) and contentait (\kɔ̃.tɑ̃.tɛ\) 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 47784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contenait is recorded at frequency rank #12,345, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tə.nɛ\. contentait is at rank #35,439, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɑ̃.tɛ\.
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 47784, this pair ranks #184,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contenait vs contentait
Shared letters: aceinot. Private to "contenait": -. Private to "contentait": -.
"contenait" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "contentait" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contenait ← ccontenait · cnotenait · conetnait · conntenait · conteanit · contenaitt · contenati · conteniat
- contentait ← ccontentait · cnotentait · conetntait · conntentait · contenatit · contenntait · contentaitt · contentati
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contenait" for "contentait" ever safe?
Which is more common, "contenait" or "contentait"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "contenait" and "contentait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contenait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contentait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contenait" and "contentait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concentrait vs contentait". 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 #184,180 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.