compétence
\kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\
The verdict
“compétence” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #4,057 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,057
- frequency rank, French
- 10
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Fonction attribuée par la loi à une autorité publique, à un établissement public.
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 | compétence |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #4,057 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “compétence” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for compétence is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,057 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for compétence, with forms such as "ccompétence", "cmopétence", and "commpétence". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "compétents", "compétente", "compétences", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is compétence, spelled C-O-M-P-É-T-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1Fonction attribuée par la loi à une autorité publique, à un établissement public.
- 2Le droit qu’un tribunal, qu’un juge a de connaître de telle ou telle matière, de telle ou telle cause.
- 3Aptitude d’une personne à travailler dans un domaine.
- 4Aptitude d’une personne à juger d’un ouvrage ou à parler de façon pertinente d'un sujet.
- 5Aptitude d’une personne à résoudre un problème complexe.
- 6Grandeur, en général sous la forme d’une valeur chiffrée, et définissant la capacité d’un personnage à gérer certaines situations.
- 7Propriété d’une roche de se briser sous l’effet des contraintes tectoniques. → voir compétent
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccompétence,cmopétence,commpétence,competence,comppétence,comptéence,compéetnce,compétecne,compétencce,compétenec,compétennce,compétnece,compéttence,coméptence,copmétence,ocmpétence
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of compétence - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "compétence"?
What does "compétence" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "compétence"?
How do you pronounce "compétence"?
What language does "compétence" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “compétence”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-M-P-É-T-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ̃.pe.tɑ̃s\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “compétents” - see the side-by-side comparison. compétence vs compétents
- 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.