Which to use
“contre” is a preposition and “corte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #109
- “contre” frequency rank
- #27,386
- “corte” frequency rank
- 27495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contre | corte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En opposition à ; dans un choc avec ; à l’encontre de. | Cour. |
Where the eye mixes contre and corte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between contre and corte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contre is \kɔ̃tʁ\ while corte is \ˈkɔr.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contre is recorded at frequency rank #109, classified as aprep, pronounced \kɔ̃tʁ\. corte is at rank #27,386, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔr.te\.
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 27495, this pair ranks #328,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contre vs corte
Shared letters: ceort. Private to "contre": n. Private to "corte": -.
"contre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contre" and "corte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "contre" vs "corte" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "contre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "corte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #328,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contre" and "corte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs corte". 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 #328,604 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.