Which to use
“contractées” and “contractuel” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,250
- “contractées” frequency rank
- #25,948
- “contractuel” frequency rank
- 73198
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contractées | contractuel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de contracté. | Relatif au contrat, qui est stipulé par contrat. |
Where the eye mixes contractées and contractuel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: contractées vs contractuel
A purely visual mix-up. contractées (\kɔ̃.tʁak.te\) and contractuel (\kɔ̃.tʁak.tɥɛl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73198, 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\. contractuel is at rank #25,948, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁak.tɥɛl\.
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 73198, this pair ranks #41,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contractées vs contractuel
Shared letters: acenort. Private to "contractées": sé. Private to "contractuel": lu.
"contractées" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVC · "contractuel" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contractuel ← ccontractuel · cnotractuel · conntractuel · conrtactuel · contarctuel · contracctuel · contracteul · contracttuel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contractées" for "contractuel" ever safe?
Frequency check: "contractées" vs "contractuel" - 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 "contractées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contractuel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contractées" and "contractuel" 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 #41,287 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.