Which to use
“contrée” and “contrées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,487
- “contrée” frequency rank
- #16,584
- “contrées” frequency rank
- 36071
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrée | contrées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Certaine étendue de pays. | Pluriel de contrée. |
Same sound, different letters: contrée vs contrées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. contrée runs 7 letters (CVCCCVV) against contrées's 8 (CVCCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: contrée vs contrées
This is the hard kind. contrée and contrées are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃.tʁe\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “contrée” sits inside “contrées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrée is recorded at frequency rank #19,487, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁe\. contrées is at rank #16,584, tagged as anoun, 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 36071, this pair ranks #272,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contrée vs contrées
Shared letters: cenorté. Private to "contrée": -. Private to "contrées": s.
"contrée" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV · "contrées" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contrée" for "contrées" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "contrée" or "contrées" show up more?
Useful next steps
"contrée" and "contrées" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #272,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrée" and "contrées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congres vs contrée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #272,200 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.