contenuvscontenusConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,558
“contenu” frequency rank
#5,233
“contenus” frequency rank
6791
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contenu contenus
Definition Enfermé dans un volume ou dans un espace. Masculin pluriel de contenu.

Same sound, different letters: contenu vs contenus

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.

7 ch
contenu
8 ch
contenus

Ear matches; page differs - contenu and contenus

This is the hard kind. contenu and contenus are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃t.ny\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “contenu” sits inside “contenus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contenu is recorded at frequency rank #1,558, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃t.ny\. contenus is at rank #5,233, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃t.ny\.

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 6791, this pair ranks #425,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contenu vs contenus

Shared letters: cenotu. Private to "contenu": -. Private to "contenus": s.

"contenu" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "contenus" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contenuccontenu · cnotenu · conetnu · conntenu · contennu · conteun · contneu · conttenu
  • contenusccontenus · cnotenus · conetnus · conntenus · contennus · contensu · contenuss · conteuns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contenu" for "contenus" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ̃t.ny\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "contenu" or "contenus"?
"contenu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,558 in our French list, against #5,233 for "contenus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contenu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contenus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #425,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contenu" and "contenus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contenus vs convenues". 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 #425,224 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