contractéesvscontracterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contractées is a adjective, contracter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contractées” is an adjective and “contracter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,250
“contractées” frequency rank
#19,791
“contracter” frequency rank
67041
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contractées contracter
Definition Féminin pluriel de contracté. Conclure un contrat.

Same sound, different letters: contractées vs contracter

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.

11 ch
contractées
10 ch
contracter

Same sound, different spelling - contractées / contracter

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: contractées and contracter carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ̃.tʁak.te\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, 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 67041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contractées is recorded at frequency rank #47,250, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁak.te\. contracter is at rank #19,791, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁak.te\.

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 67041, this pair ranks #65,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contractées vs contracter

Shared letters: acenort. Private to "contractées": . Private to "contracter": -.

"contractées" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVC  ·  "contracter" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contracterccontracter · cnotracter · conntracter · conrtacter · contarcter · contraccter · contracetr · contracterr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contractées" for "contracter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contractées" is an adjective and "contracter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contractées" or "contracter"?
"contracter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,791 in our French list, against #47,250 for "contractées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contractées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contracter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contractées" and "contracter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contractées vs contrastés". 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 #65,164 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