Which to use
“contourne” and “contourner” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,892
- “contourne” frequency rank
- #10,676
- “contourner” frequency rank
- 39568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contourne | contourner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de contourner. | Déformer ; faire qu’une chose soit de travers. |
Where the eye mixes contourne and contourner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contourne runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCCV) against contourner's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between contourne and contourner
A purely visual mix-up. contourne (\kɔ̃.tuʁn\) and contourner (\kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne\) 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 extra letter(s) - “contourne” sits inside “contourner”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contourne is recorded at frequency rank #28,892, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tuʁn\. contourner is at rank #10,676, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tuʁ.ne\.
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 39568, this pair ranks #246,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contourne vs contourner
Shared letters: cenortu. Private to "contourne": -. Private to "contourner": -.
"contourne" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCV · "contourner" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contourne ← ccontourne · cnotourne · conntourne · conoturne · contorune · contounre · contouren · contournne
- contourner ← ccontourner · cnotourner · conntourner · conoturner · contoruner · contounrer · contourenr · contournerr
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contourne" and "contourner" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "contourne" vs "contourner" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "contourne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contourner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #246,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contourne" and "contourner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contour vs contourne". 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 #246,998 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.