Which to use
“contrarie” and “contrarier” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,953
- “contrarie” frequency rank
- #25,949
- “contrarier” frequency rank
- 60902
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrarie | contrarier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de contrarier. | Empêcher d’agir, d’aboutir. |
Where the eye mixes contrarie and contrarier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contrarie runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVV) against contrarier's 10 (CVCCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: contrarie vs contrarier
A purely visual mix-up. contrarie (\kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁi\) and contrarier (\kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁje\) 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) - “contrarie” sits inside “contrarier”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrarie is recorded at frequency rank #34,953, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁi\. contrarier is at rank #25,949, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁa.ʁje\.
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 60902, this pair ranks #95,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contrarie vs contrarier
Shared letters: aceinort. Private to "contrarie": -. Private to "contrarier": -.
"contrarie" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVV · "contrarier" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contrarie ← ccontrarie · cnotrarie · conntrarie · conrtarie · contarrie · contrarei · contrarrie · contrraie
- contrarier ← ccontrarier · cnotrarier · conntrarier · conrtarier · contarrier · contrairer · contrareir · contrarierr
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contrarie" for "contrarier" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "contrarie" or "contrarier" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrarie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrarier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrarie" and "contrarier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrarie vs contrariété". 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 #95,192 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.