Which to use
“contenir” and “conter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,070
- “contenir” frequency rank
- #30,538
- “conter” frequency rank
- 36608
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contenir | conter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Avoir une certaine contenance, comprendre dans certain espace, dans certaine étendue. | Exposer par un récit. Il se dit principalement de récits que l’on fait dans la conversation. |
Where the eye mixes contenir and conter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. contenir runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against conter's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses contenir with conter
A purely visual mix-up. contenir (\kɔ̃t.niʁ\) and conter (\kɔ̃.te\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contenir is recorded at frequency rank #6,070, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃t.niʁ\. conter is at rank #30,538, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\.
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 36608, this pair ranks #268,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contenir vs conter
Shared letters: cenort. Private to "contenir": i. Private to "conter": -.
"contenir" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "conter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contenir" and "conter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "contenir" or "conter"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "contenir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "conter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #268,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contenir" and "conter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs conter". 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 #268,394 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.