Which to use
“contrepoids” and “contrepoint” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,111
- “contrepoids” frequency rank
- #30,961
- “contrepoint” frequency rank
- 61072
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrepoids | contrepoint |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poids servant à contrebalancer une force opposée ou à en modérer l’action. | Art de composer de la musique à deux ou plusieurs parties. |
Where the eye mixes contrepoids and contrepoint
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contrepoids and contrepoint follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses contrepoids with contrepoint
A purely visual mix-up. contrepoids (\kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\) and contrepoint (\kɔ̃.tʁə.pwɛ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrepoids is recorded at frequency rank #30,111, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t.ʁə.pwa\. contrepoint is at rank #30,961, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁə.pwɛ̃\.
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 61072, this pair ranks #94,218 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contrepoids vs contrepoint
Shared letters: ceinoprt. Private to "contrepoids": ds. Private to "contrepoint": -.
"contrepoids" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVCC · "contrepoint" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contrepoids ← ccontrepoids · cnotrepoids · conntrepoids · conrtepoids · conterpoids · contreopids · contrepiods · contrepodis
- contrepoint ← ccontrepoint · cnotrepoint · conntrepoint · conrtepoint · conterpoint · contreopint · contrepiont · contrepoinnt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contrepoids" for "contrepoint" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "contrepoids" or "contrepoint" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrepoids" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrepoint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,218 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #94,218 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.