Which to use
“contre” is a preposition and “côte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #109
- “contre” frequency rank
- #1,288
- “côte” frequency rank
- 1397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contre | côte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En opposition à ; dans un choc avec ; à l’encontre de. | Chacun des os qui forment la cage thoracique. |
Where the eye mixes contre and côte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses contre with côte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contre is \kɔ̃tʁ\ while côte is \kot\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 1397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contre is recorded at frequency rank #109, classified as aprep, pronounced \kɔ̃tʁ\. côte is at rank #1,288, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kot\.
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 1397, this pair ranks #438,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contre vs côte
Shared letters: cet. Private to "contre": nor. Private to "côte": ô.
"contre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "côte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- contre ← ccontre · cnotre · conntre · conrte · contrre · conttre · cotnre · ocntre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contre" and "côte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "contre" or "côte"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "côte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contre" and "côte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conde vs côte". 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 #438,136 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.