contrervscoterTell them apart

Which to use

“contrer” and “coter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,979
“contrer” frequency rank
#37,252
“coter” frequency rank
46231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contrer coter
Definition Annoncer que l'on tient contre celui qui a le premier déclaré qu'il jouait, et qu'on compte le punir sévèrement. Marquer suivant l’ordre des lettres ou des nombres, numéroter.

Where the eye mixes contrer and coter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. contrer runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against coter's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
contrer
5 ch
coter

Visual trap between contrer and coter

A purely visual mix-up. contrer (\kɔ̃.tʁe\) and coter (\kɔ.te\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contrer is recorded at frequency rank #8,979, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁe\. coter is at rank #37,252, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.te\.

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 46231, this pair ranks #196,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contrer vs coter

Shared letters: ceort. Private to "contrer": n. Private to "coter": -.

"contrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "coter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contrer ← ccontrer · cnotrer · conntrer · conrter · conterr · contrerr · contrrer · conttrer
  • coter ← ccoter · coetr · coterr · cotter · ctoer · octer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contrer" and "coter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.tʁe\ versus \kɔ.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "contrer" or "coter"?
"contrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,979 in our French list, against #37,252 for "coter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "contrer" and "coter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #196,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contrer" and "coter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "citera vs coter". 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 #196,550 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list