Which to use
“contour” and “contours” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,845
- “contour” frequency rank
- #10,476
- “contours” frequency rank
- 27321
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contour | contours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Limite externe de la surface d’un corps, surtout en parlant des objets arrondis. | Pluriel de contour. |
Same sound, different letters: contour vs contours
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. contour runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against contours's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - contour and contours
This is the hard kind. contour and contours are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃.tuʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “contour” sits inside “contours”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contour is recorded at frequency rank #16,845, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tuʁ\. contours is at rank #10,476, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tuʁ\.
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 27321, this pair ranks #329,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contour vs contours
Shared letters: cnortu. Private to "contour": -. Private to "contours": s.
"contour" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "contours" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contour" for "contours" ever safe?
Which is more common, "contour" or "contours"?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "contour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #329,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contour" and "contours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cantor vs contour". 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 #329,724 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.