Which to use
“contingent” is an adjective and “contingents” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,889
- “contingent” frequency rank
- #35,440
- “contingents” frequency rank
- 50329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contingent | contingents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est éventuel ; qui peut arriver ou ne pas arriver. | Pluriel de contingent. |
Same sound, different letters: contingent vs contingents
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. contingent runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCC) against contingents's 11 (CVCCVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - contingent and contingents
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: contingent and contingents carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ̃.tɛ̃.ʒɑ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “contingent” sits inside “contingents”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contingent is recorded at frequency rank #14,889, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛ̃.ʒɑ̃\. contingents is at rank #35,440, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛ̃.ʒɑ̃\.
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 50329, this pair ranks #163,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contingent vs contingents
Shared letters: ceginot. Private to "contingent": -. Private to "contingents": s.
"contingent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "contingents" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contingent ← ccontingent · cnotingent · conitngent · conntingent · contignent · continegnt · contingennt · contingentt
- contingents ← ccontingents · cnotingents · conitngents · conntingents · contignents · continegnts · contingennts · contingenst
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contingent" for "contingents" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "contingent" or "contingents" show up more?
What to do next
"contingent" and "contingents" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "contingent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contingents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contingent" and "contingents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "continents vs contingents". 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 #163,484 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.