contenancevsconvenancesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,312
“contenance” frequency rank
#46,676
“convenances” frequency rank
72988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contenance convenances
Definition Capacité ou étendue superficielle. Pluriel de convenance.

Where the eye mixes contenance and convenances

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contenance runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCCV) against convenances's 11 (CVCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
contenance
11 ch
convenances

Look-alike desk: contenance vs convenances

A purely visual mix-up. contenance (\kɔ̃t.nɑ̃s\) and convenances (\kɔ̃v.nɑ̃s\) 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 72988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contenance is recorded at frequency rank #26,312, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t.nɑ̃s\. convenances is at rank #46,676, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃v.nɑ̃s\.

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 72988, this pair ranks #42,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contenance vs convenances

Shared letters: aceno. Private to "contenance": t. Private to "convenances": sv.

"contenance" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV  ·  "convenances" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contenance ← ccontenance · cnotenance · conetnance · conntenance · conteannce · contenacne · contenancce · contenanec
  • convenances ← cconvenances · cnovenances · conevnances · connvenances · conveannces · convenacnes · convenancces · convenancess

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contenance" and "convenances" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃t.nɑ̃s\ versus \kɔ̃v.nɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "contenance" vs "convenances" - which ranks higher?
"contenance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,312 in our French list, against #46,676 for "convenances". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contenance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "convenances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contenance" and "convenances" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "convenables vs convenances". 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 #42,079 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list