contextevscontextesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,358
“contexte” frequency rank
#15,114
“contextes” frequency rank
16472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contexte contextes
Definition Ensemble d'un acte par rapport à l'enchaînement des dispositions et des clauses. Pluriel de contexte.

Same sound, different letters: contexte vs contextes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters.

8 ch
contexte
9 ch
contextes

Ear matches; page differs - contexte and contextes

This is the hard kind. contexte and contextes are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃.tɛkst\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “contexte” sits inside “contextes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contexte is recorded at frequency rank #1,358, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛkst\. contextes is at rank #15,114, 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 16472, this pair ranks #387,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contexte vs contextes

Shared letters: cenotx. Private to "contexte": -. Private to "contextes": s.

"contexte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "contextes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contexteccontexte · cnotexte · conetxte · conntexte · contetxe · contexet · contextte · contexxte
  • contextesccontextes · cnotextes · conetxtes · conntextes · contetxes · contexets · contextess · contextse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contexte" for "contextes" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ̃.tɛkst\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "contexte" or "contextes"?
"contexte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,358 in our French list, against #15,114 for "contextes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contexte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contextes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #387,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contexte" and "contextes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contentée vs contextes". 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 #387,684 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