compense
\kɔ̃.pɑ̃s\
The verdict
“compense” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #21,574 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #21,574
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de compenser.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | compense |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.pɑ̃s\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #21,574 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “compense” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for compense is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ̃.pɑ̃s\. Corpus data places it at rank #21,574 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for compense, with forms such as "ccompense", "cmopense", and "comepnse". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "composé", "compère", "comprise", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is compense, spelled C-O-M-P-E-N-S-E.
Definition
- 1Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de compenser.
- 2Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de compenser.
- 3Première personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de compenser.
- 4Troisième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent de compenser.
- 5Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif de compenser.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccompense,cmopense,comepnse,commpense,compenes,compennse,compensse,compesne,compnese,comppense,copmense,ocmpense
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of compense - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "compense"?
What does "compense" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "compense"?
How do you pronounce "compense"?
What language does "compense" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “compense”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-M-P-E-N-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ̃.pɑ̃s\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “composé” - see the side-by-side comparison. compense vs composé
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.