contenusvscontinusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,233
“contenus” frequency rank
#30,110
“continus” frequency rank
35343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contenus continus
Definition Masculin pluriel de contenu. Masculin pluriel de continu.

Where the eye mixes contenus and continus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
contenus
8 ch
continus

Visual trap between contenus and continus

A purely visual mix-up. contenus (\kɔ̃t.ny\) and continus (\kɔ̃.ti.ny\) 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 a single letter - e in “contenus” becomes i in “continus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35343, 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\. continus is at rank #30,110, tagged as anadj, 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 35343, this pair ranks #277,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contenus vs continus

Shared letters: cnostu. Private to "contenus": e. Private to "continus": i.

"contenus" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "continus" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contenusccontenus · cnotenus · conetnus · conntenus · contennus · contensu · contenuss · conteuns
  • continusccontinus · cnotinus · conitnus · conntinus · continnus · continsu · continuss · contiuns

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contenus" and "continus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃t.ny\ versus \kɔ̃.ti.ny\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contenus" or "continus"?
"contenus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,233 in our French list, against #30,110 for "continus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "contenus" and "continus" 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 "continus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contenus" and "continus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "continuel vs continus". 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 #277,387 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