contiennevsconvienneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,951
“contienne” frequency rank
#34,481
“convienne” frequency rank
79432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contienne convienne
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de contenir. Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de convenir.

Where the eye mixes contienne and convienne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. contienne and convienne follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
contienne
9 ch
convienne

Why the eye confuses contienne with convienne

A purely visual mix-up. contienne (\kɔ̃.tjɛn\) and convienne (\kɔ̃.vjɛn\) 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 - t in “contienne” becomes v in “convienne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contienne is recorded at frequency rank #44,951, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tjɛn\. convienne is at rank #34,481, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.vjɛn\.

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 79432, this pair ranks #23,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contienne vs convienne

Shared letters: ceino. Private to "contienne": t. Private to "convienne": v.

"contienne" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCV  ·  "convienne" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contienne ← ccontienne · cnotienne · conitenne · conntienne · conteinne · contiene · contienen · continene
  • convienne ← cconvienne · cnovienne · conivenne · connvienne · conveinne · conviene · convienen · convinene

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contienne" for "convienne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.tjɛn\ versus \kɔ̃.vjɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contienne" or "convienne"?
"convienne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,481 in our French list, against #44,951 for "contienne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contienne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "convienne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contienne" and "convienne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "convenue vs convienne". 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 #23,291 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