Which to use
“contenait” and “coûterait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,345
- “contenait” frequency rank
- #19,494
- “coûterait” frequency rank
- 31839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contenait | coûterait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de contenir. | Troisième personne du singulier du conditionnel présent de coûter. |
Where the eye mixes contenait and coûterait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. contenait (CVCCVCVVC) and coûterait (CVVCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: contenait vs coûterait
A purely visual mix-up. contenait (\kɔ̃.tə.nɛ\) and coûterait (\ku.tə.ʁɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31839, 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\. coûterait is at rank #19,494, tagged as averb, pronounced \ku.tə.ʁɛ\.
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 31839, this pair ranks #301,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contenait vs coûterait
Shared letters: aceiot. Private to "contenait": n. Private to "coûterait": rû.
"contenait" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "coûterait" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contenait ← ccontenait · cnotenait · conetnait · conntenait · conteanit · contenaitt · contenati · conteniat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contenait" for "coûterait" ever safe?
Which is more common, "contenait" or "coûterait"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "contenait" and "coûterait" 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 "coûterait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contenait" and "coûterait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courrait vs coûterait". 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 #301,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.