If you contemplate an action, you think about whether to do it or not. For a time he contemplated a career as an army medical doctor She contemplates leaving for the sake of the kids. = consider
If you contemplate something or someone, you look at them for a long time. He contemplated his hands, still frowning. + contemplation con·tem·pla·tion He was lost in the contemplation of the landscape for a while
reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate"
If you contemplate an idea or subject, you think about it carefully for a long time. As he lay in his hospital bed that night, he cried as he contemplated his future + contemplation con·tem·pla·tion It is a place of quiet contemplation
consider as a possibility; "I contemplated leaving school and taking a full-time job" look at thoughtfully; observe deep in thought; "contemplate one's navel