contervsconversWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: conter is a verb, convers is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“conter” is a verb and “convers” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,538
“conter” frequency rank
#48,431
“convers” frequency rank
78969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conter convers
Definition Exposer par un récit. Il se dit principalement de récits que l’on fait dans la conversation. Qui était employé aux œuvres serviles d’un monastère.

Where the eye mixes conter and convers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
conter
7 ch
convers

Look-alike desk: conter vs convers

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: conter is \kɔ̃.te\ while convers is \kɔ̃.vɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conter is recorded at frequency rank #30,538, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\. convers is at rank #48,431, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.vɛʁ\.

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 78969, this pair ranks #24,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of conter vs convers

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "conter": t. Private to "convers": sv.

"conter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "convers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contercconter · cnoter · conetr · connter · contter · cotner · ocnter
  • converscconvers · cnovers · conevrs · connvers · converrs · converss · convesr · convres

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "conter" and "convers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "conter" is a verb and "convers" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "conter" or "convers"?
"conter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,538 in our French list, against #48,431 for "convers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "conter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "convers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conter" and "convers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "centers vs convers". 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 #24,398 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