continuavscontinuezConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#14,890
“continua” frequency rank
#5,331
“continuez” frequency rank
20221
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature continua continuez
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de continuer. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de continuer.

Where the eye mixes continua and continuez

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

8 ch
continua
9 ch
continuez

Why the eye confuses continua with continuez

A purely visual mix-up. continua (\kɔ̃.ti.nɥa\) and continuez (\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 20221, 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\. continuez is at rank #5,331, 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 20221, this pair ranks #369,373 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of continua vs continuez

Shared letters: cinotu. Private to "continua": a. Private to "continuez": ez.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • continuaccontinua · cnotinua · conitnua · conntinua · continau · continnua · contiuna · contniua
  • continuezccontinuez · cnotinuez · conitnuez · conntinuez · contineuz · continnuez · continuezz · continuze

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "continua" for "continuez" ever safe?
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.
Frequency check: "continua" vs "continuez" - which ranks higher?
"continuez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,331 in our French list, against #14,890 for "continua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "continua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "continuez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #369,373 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "continua" and "continuez" 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 #369,373 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