Which to use
“contra” and “contre” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #160
- “contra” frequency rank
- #45,771
- “contre” frequency rank
- 45931
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contra | contre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | em oposição a | contra, encostado em, perto de, próximo a: |
Where the eye mixes contra and contre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. contra and contre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses contra with contre
A purely visual mix-up. contra (/ˈkõ.tɾɐ/) and contre (/kɔ̃tʁ/) 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 “contra” becomes e in “contre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contra is recorded at frequency rank #160, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈkõ.tɾɐ/. contre is at rank #45,771, tagged as aprep, pronounced /kɔ̃tʁ/.
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 45931, this pair ranks #19,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contra vs contre
Shared letters: cnort. Private to "contra": a. Private to "contre": e.
"contra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "contre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contra" and "contre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "contra" vs "contre" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contra" and "contre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coentro vs contre". 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 #19,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.