Which to use
“contribua” and “contribue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,021
- “contribua” frequency rank
- #5,541
- “contribue” frequency rank
- 32562
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contribua | contribue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de contribuer. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de contribuer. |
Where the eye mixes contribua and contribue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. contribua and contribue follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses contribua with contribue
A purely visual mix-up. contribua (\kɔ̃.tʁi.bɥa\) and contribue (\kɔ̃.tʁi.by\) 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 a single letter - a in “contribua” becomes e in “contribue”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contribua is recorded at frequency rank #27,021, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁi.bɥa\. contribue is at rank #5,541, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁi.by\.
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 32562, this pair ranks #296,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contribua vs contribue
Shared letters: bcinortu. Private to "contribua": a. Private to "contribue": e.
"contribua" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVV · "contribue" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "contribua" for "contribue" ever safe?
Which is more common, "contribua" or "contribue"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "contribua" and "contribue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contribua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contribue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #296,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contribua" and "contribue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contribua vs contribuera". 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 #296,452 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.