contrevsconviéWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contre is a preposition, convié is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contre” is a preposition and “convié” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#109
“contre” frequency rank
#29,299
“convié” frequency rank
29408
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contre convié
Definition En opposition à ; dans un choc avec ; à l’encontre de. Très souvent employé comme nom avec le sens d’invité à un repas de cérémonie.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set contre and convié apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
contre
6 ch
convié

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contre is \kɔ̃tʁ\ while convié is \kɔ̃.vje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contre is recorded at frequency rank #109, classified as aprep, pronounced \kɔ̃tʁ\. convié is at rank #29,299, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.vje\.

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 29408, this pair ranks #316,870 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contre vs convié

Shared letters: cno. Private to "contre": ert. Private to "convié": ivé.

"contre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "convié" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contreccontre · cnotre · conntre · conrte · contrre · conttre · cotnre · ocntre

Frequency comparison

contre#109
convié#29,299

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contre" and "convié" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contre" is a preposition and "convié" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contre" or "convié"?
"contre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #109 in our French list, against #29,299 for "convié". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering contre vs convié

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “contre”; for a noun, it's “convié”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “contre” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list