contréesvscontrerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contrées is a noun, contrer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contrées” is a noun and “contrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,584
“contrées” frequency rank
#8,979
“contrer” frequency rank
25563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contrées contrer
Definition Pluriel de contrée. Annoncer que l'on tient contre celui qui a le premier déclaré qu'il jouait, et qu'on compte le punir sévèrement.

Same sound, different letters: contrées vs contrer

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

8 ch
contrées
7 ch
contrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: contrées and contrer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ̃.tʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contrées is recorded at frequency rank #16,584, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁe\. contrer is at rank #8,979, tagged as averb, 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 25563, this pair ranks #340,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contrées vs contrer

Shared letters: cenort. Private to "contrées": . Private to "contrer": -.

"contrées" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC  ·  "contrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contrerccontrer · cnotrer · conntrer · conrter · conterr · contrerr · contrrer · conttrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contrées" and "contrer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contrées" is a noun and "contrer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contrées" or "contrer"?
"contrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,979 in our French list, against #16,584 for "contrées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list