Contender can refer to:
- Contender (stock character), commonly used in books, TV shows, plays, and films
- The Contender (TV series), a boxing-based reality television series or its spinoffs:
- The Contender 2
- The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA
- The Contender 3
- The Contender Asia
- The Contender 4
- The Contender Australia
- The Contender (Robert Lipsyte novel), 1967 novel by Robert Lipsyte
- The Contender (2000 film), 2000 film starring Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, and Jeff Bridges
- The Contender (1944 film), film directed by Sam Newfield
- The Contender (book), code name for an unreleased book by author Darren Shan
- "The Contender", a song by Menahan Street Band on the album Make the Road by Walking
- Contender (dinghy), type of sailing dinghy
- The Contender (firearm), single shot, break-action firearm made as a pistol or rifle, manufactured by Thompson Center Arms
- a variety of green beans
- a song by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart from the album The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
- The Contenders, a 2011 C-SPAN series about influential American presidential nominees