contenuevscontexteTell them apart

Quick tell: contenue is a adjective, contexte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contenue” is an adjective and “contexte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,598
“contenue” frequency rank
#1,358
“contexte” frequency rank
16956
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contenue contexte
Definition Féminin singulier de contenu. Ensemble d'un acte par rapport à l'enchaînement des dispositions et des clauses.

Where the eye mixes contenue and contexte

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

8 ch
contenue
8 ch
contexte

Look-alike desk: contenue vs contexte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contenue is \kɔ̃.tə.ny\ while contexte is \kɔ̃.tɛkst\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contenue is recorded at frequency rank #15,598, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.tə.ny\. contexte is at rank #1,358, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛkst\.

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 16956, this pair ranks #385,475 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contenue vs contexte

Shared letters: cenot. Private to "contenue": u. Private to "contexte": x.

"contenue" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "contexte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contenueccontenue · cnotenue · conetnue · conntenue · conteneu · contennue · conteune · contneue
  • contexteccontexte · cnotexte · conetxte · conntexte · contetxe · contexet · contextte · contexxte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contenue" for "contexte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contenue" is an adjective and "contexte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "contenue" or "contexte" show up more?
"contexte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,358 in our French list, against #15,598 for "contenue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contenue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contexte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #385,475 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contenue" and "contexte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contenue 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 #385,475 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