Which to use
“contrebas” and “contrebasse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,951
- “contrebas” frequency rank
- #35,442
- “contrebasse” frequency rank
- 61393
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrebas | contrebasse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie basse. → voir en contrebas | Le plus grand et le plus grave des instruments à cordes qui sonne une octave au-dessous de la basse ordinaire. |
Where the eye mixes contrebas and contrebasse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contrebas runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVC) against contrebasse's 11 (CVCCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between contrebas and contrebasse
A purely visual mix-up. contrebas (\kɔ̃.tʁə.bɑ\) and contrebasse (\kɔ̃.tʁə.bas\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “contrebas” sits inside “contrebasse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrebas is recorded at frequency rank #25,951, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁə.bɑ\. contrebasse is at rank #35,442, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁə.bas\.
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 61393, this pair ranks #92,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contrebas vs contrebasse
Shared letters: abcenorst. Private to "contrebas": -. Private to "contrebasse": -.
"contrebas" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC · "contrebasse" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- contrebas ← ccontrebas · cnotrebas · conntrebas · conrtebas · conterbas · contrbeas · contreabs · contrebass
- contrebasse ← ccontrebasse · cnotrebasse · conntrebasse · conrtebasse · conterbasse · contrbeasse · contreabsse · contrebase
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contrebas" and "contrebasse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "contrebas" or "contrebasse" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrebas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrebasse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrebas" and "contrebasse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrebas vs contredis". 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 #92,537 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.