continuesvscontinusWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: continues is a noun, continus is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“continues” is a noun and “continus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,848
“continues” frequency rank
#30,110
“continus” frequency rank
40958
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature continues continus
Definition Pluriel de continue. Masculin pluriel de continu.

Same sound, different letters: continues vs continus

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters.

9 ch
continues
8 ch
continus

Homophone desk: continues vs continus

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: continues and continus carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ̃.ti.ny\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

continues is recorded at frequency rank #10,848, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ti.ny\. continus is at rank #30,110, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.ti.ny\.

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 40958, this pair ranks #236,654 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of continues vs continus

Shared letters: cinostu. Private to "continues": e. Private to "continus": -.

"continues" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "continus" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • continuesccontinues · cnotinues · conitnues · conntinues · contineus · continnues · continuess · continuse
  • continusccontinus · cnotinus · conitnus · conntinus · continnus · continsu · continuss · contiuns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "continues" for "continus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "continues" is a noun and "continus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "continues" or "continus"?
"continues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,848 in our French list, against #30,110 for "continus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"continues" and "continus" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "continues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "continus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #236,654 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "continues" and "continus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "continuel vs continus". 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 #236,654 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