continuavscontinuerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,890
“continua” frequency rank
#1,089
“continuer” frequency rank
15979
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature continua continuer
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de continuer. Poursuivre ce qui est commencé.

Where the eye mixes continua and continuer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
continua
9 ch
continuer

Visual trap between continua and continuer

A purely visual mix-up. continua (\kɔ̃.ti.nɥa\) and continuer (\kɔ̃.ti.nɥe\) 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 15979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

continua is recorded at frequency rank #14,890, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ti.nɥa\. continuer is at rank #1,089, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ti.nɥe\.

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 15979, this pair ranks #389,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of continua vs continuer

Shared letters: cinotu. Private to "continua": a. Private to "continuer": er.

"continua" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "continuer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • continuaccontinua · cnotinua · conitnua · conntinua · continau · continnua · contiuna · contniua
  • continuerccontinuer · cnotinuer · conitnuer · conntinuer · contineur · continnuer · continuerr · continure

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "continua" and "continuer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.ti.nɥa\ versus \kɔ̃.ti.nɥe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "continua" or "continuer"?
"continuer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,089 in our French list, against #14,890 for "continua". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "continua" and "continuer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "continua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "continuer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #389,958 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "continua" and "continuer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "continua vs continuel". 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 #389,958 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