Which to use
“contrat” is a noun and “contrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #919
- “contrat” frequency rank
- #8,979
- “contrer” frequency rank
- 9898
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrat | contrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Convention (même non écrite) entre deux ou plusieurs personnes, plus précisément entre un ou plusieurs créanciers et un ou plusieurs débiteurs, ayant pour effet de créer entre elles une obligation (obligation conventionnelle). | Annoncer que l'on tient contre celui qui a le premier déclaré qu'il jouait, et qu'on compte le punir sévèrement. |
Where the eye mixes contrat and contrer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between contrat and contrer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contrat is \kɔ̃.tʁa\ while contrer is \kɔ̃.tʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrat is recorded at frequency rank #919, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁa\. contrer is at rank #8,979, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁe\.
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 9898, this pair ranks #415,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contrat vs contrer
Shared letters: cnort. Private to "contrat": a. Private to "contrer": e.
"contrat" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "contrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contrat" and "contrer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "contrat" or "contrer" show up more?
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 "contrat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrat" and "contrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congres vs contrer". 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 #415,000 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.