A contract is a binding agreement; to contract is to shrink or to catch an illness. A contrast is a clear difference between things compared; to contrast is to set them side by side to show it. Sign the contract; in contrast to last year. The endings — tract and trast — are the whole difference.
The core difference
- contract — noun: a legal agreement. A two-year contract. Verb: to shrink, metal contracts as it cools; to catch, contract flu; to agree formally, contracted to build.
- contrast — noun: a striking difference; the range between light and dark in an image. A sharp contrast, by contrast, turn up the contrast. Verb: to compare so as to show differences. Contrast the two approaches.
The tell
Contrast carries contra, "against" — things set against each other. Contract carries tract, "draw" — parties drawn together, or a muscle drawing in. The set phrases belong firmly to one side: by contrast, in contrast to, compare and contrast; under contract, breach of contract. Both words stress the first syllable as nouns and the second as verbs.
In use
- contract — The contract runs until June. Muscles contract and relax.
- contrast — By contrast, sales rose in the north. The contrast between them is stark.
Common slips
- by contract, sales fell → by contrast, sales fell
- signed a two-year contrast → signed a two-year contract
Contra is against; tract is draw.
Where the words come from
Contract is from Latin contractus, "drawn together", from trahere "to draw". Contrast is from Latin contra "against" plus stare "to stand" — to stand against — through Italian contrastare and French contraster, arriving in English as a painters' term for juxtaposed colours before widening to any difference.
