contratsvscontréesTell them apart

Which to use

“contrats” and “contrées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,990
“contrats” frequency rank
#16,584
“contrées” frequency rank
19574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contrats contrées
Definition Pluriel de contrat. Pluriel de contrée.

Where the eye mixes contrats and contrées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
contrats
8 ch
contrées

Look-alike desk: contrats vs contrées

A purely visual mix-up. contrats (\kɔ̃.tʁa\) and contrées (\kɔ̃.tʁe\) 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 19574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contrats is recorded at frequency rank #2,990, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁa\. contrées is at rank #16,584, tagged as anoun, 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 19574, this pair ranks #372,591 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contrats vs contrées

Shared letters: cnorst. Private to "contrats": a. Private to "contrées": .

"contrats" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC  ·  "contrées" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contratsccontrats · cnotrats · conntrats · conrtats · contarts · contrast · contratss · contratts

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contrats" for "contrées" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.tʁa\ versus \kɔ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "contrats" vs "contrées" - which ranks higher?
"contrats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,990 in our French list, against #16,584 for "contrées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contrats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #372,591 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contrats" and "contrées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congres vs contrées". 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 #372,591 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