contenusvscontinueWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,233
“contenus” frequency rank
#867
“continue” frequency rank
6100
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contenus continue
Definition Masculin pluriel de contenu. Dans une filature appareil destiné à diviser la nappe en fils.

Where the eye mixes contenus and continue

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

8 ch
contenus
8 ch
continue

Why the eye confuses contenus with continue

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contenus is \kɔ̃t.ny\ while continue is \kɔ̃.ti.ny\. 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 6100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contenus is recorded at frequency rank #5,233, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃t.ny\. continue is at rank #867, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ti.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 6100, this pair ranks #427,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contenus vs continue

Shared letters: cenotu. Private to "contenus": s. Private to "continue": i.

"contenus" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "continue" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contenusccontenus · cnotenus · conetnus · conntenus · contennus · contensu · contenuss · conteuns
  • continueccontinue · cnotinue · conitnue · conntinue · contineu · continnue · contiune · contniue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contenus" for "continue" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contenus" is an adjective and "continue" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contenus" or "continue"?
"continue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #867 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

Eye-level mix-up between "contenus" and "continue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contenus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "continue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contenus" and "continue" 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 #427,176 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