contesvscorteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,803
“contes” frequency rank
#27,386
“corte” frequency rank
34189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contes corte
Definition Pluriel de conte. Cour.

Where the eye mixes contes and corte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
contes
5 ch
corte

Why the eye confuses contes with corte

A purely visual mix-up. contes (\kɔ̃t\) and corte (\ˈkɔr.te\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contes is recorded at frequency rank #6,803, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\. corte is at rank #27,386, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔr.te\.

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 34189, this pair ranks #285,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contes vs corte

Shared letters: ceot. Private to "contes": ns. Private to "corte": r.

"contes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contesccontes · cnotes · conets · conntes · contess · contse · conttes · cotnes
  • corteccorte · coret · corrte · cotre · ocrte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contes" and "corte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃t\ versus \ˈkɔr.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "contes" or "corte" show up more?
"contes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,803 in our French list, against #27,386 for "corte". 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 "contes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contes" and "corte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs corte". 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 #285,541 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