Which to use
“contre” is a preposition and “contrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #109
- “contre” frequency rank
- #8,979
- “contrer” frequency rank
- 9088
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contre | contrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En opposition à ; dans un choc avec ; à l’encontre de. | 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 contre and contrer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between contre and contrer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contre is \kɔ̃tʁ\ while contrer is \kɔ̃.tʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “contre” sits inside “contrer”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contre is recorded at frequency rank #109, classified as aprep, pronounced \kɔ̃tʁ\. 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 9088, this pair ranks #417,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contre vs contrer
Shared letters: cenort. Private to "contre": -. Private to "contrer": -.
"contre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "contrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contre" and "contrer" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "contre" vs "contrer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "contre" and "contrer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contre" 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 #417,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contre" 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 #417,837 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.