Which to use
“contourne” is a verb and “contours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,892
- “contourne” frequency rank
- #10,476
- “contours” frequency rank
- 39368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contourne | contours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de contourner. | Pluriel de contour. |
Where the eye mixes contourne and contours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. contourne runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCCV) against contours's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: contourne vs contours
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contourne is \kɔ̃.tuʁn\ while contours is \kɔ̃.tuʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39368, 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\. 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 39368, this pair ranks #248,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contourne vs contours
Shared letters: cnortu. Private to "contourne": e. Private to "contours": s.
"contourne" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCV · "contours" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contourne" and "contours" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "contourne" vs "contours" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contourne" 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 #248,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contourne" and "contours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concouru vs contours". 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 #248,508 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.