contentavscontinuaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,950
“contenta” frequency rank
#14,890
“continua” frequency rank
59840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contenta continua
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de contenter. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de continuer.

Where the eye mixes contenta and continua

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
contenta
8 ch
continua

Look-alike desk: contenta vs continua

A purely visual mix-up. contenta (\kɔ̃.tɑ̃.ta\) and continua (\kɔ̃.ti.nɥa\) 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 59840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contenta is recorded at frequency rank #44,950, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɑ̃.ta\. continua is at rank #14,890, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ti.nɥa\.

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 59840, this pair ranks #100,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contenta vs continua

Shared letters: acnot. Private to "contenta": e. Private to "continua": iu.

"contenta" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "continua" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contentaccontenta · cnotenta · conetnta · conntenta · contenat · contennta · contentta · contetna
  • continuaccontinua · cnotinua · conitnua · conntinua · continau · continnua · contiuna · contniua

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contenta" and "continua" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.tɑ̃.ta\ versus \kɔ̃.ti.nɥa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "contenta" or "continua" show up more?
"continua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,890 in our French list, against #44,950 for "contenta". 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 "contenta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "continua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #100,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contenta" and "continua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contenta vs contentée". 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 #100,915 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