Which to use
“contient” and “côtoient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,115
- “contient” frequency rank
- #21,904
- “côtoient” frequency rank
- 24019
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contient | côtoient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de contenir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de côtoyer. |
Where the eye mixes contient and côtoient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. contient (CVCCVVCC) and côtoient (CVCVVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses contient with côtoient
A purely visual mix-up. contient (\kɔ̃.tjɛ̃\) and côtoient (\ko.twa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contient is recorded at frequency rank #2,115, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tjɛ̃\. côtoient is at rank #21,904, tagged as averb, pronounced \ko.twa\.
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 24019, this pair ranks #349,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contient vs côtoient
Shared letters: ceinot. Private to "contient": -. Private to "côtoient": ô.
"contient" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "côtoient" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contient ← ccontient · cnotient · conitent · conntient · conteint · contiennt · contientt · contietn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contient" and "côtoient" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "contient" vs "côtoient" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "contient" and "côtoient" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "côtoient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contient" and "côtoient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "confient vs côtoient". 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 #349,124 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.