complement

\ˈkɒm.plə.ˌmɛnt\

/\ˈkɒm.plə.ˌmɛnt\/ verb

The verdict

“complement” is uncommon French (frequency #71,371 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,371
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Compléter, remplir, faire un complément.

Corpus desk

Index FR-complement · complement · French

complement · rank #71,371 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #71,371
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH complaît

Nearest frequency peer: complaît (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « complement »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « complement » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for complement
PropertyValue
Headwordcomplement
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ˈkɒm.plə.ˌmɛnt\
Letters10
Frequency rank#71,371
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « complement » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).complementtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « complaît » (#71,370), « compulsion » (#71,372), « concitoyen » (#71,373). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « complement » est au #71,371. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

complement is uncommon French at frequency #71,371 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ˈkɒm.plə.ˌmɛnt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Compléter, remplir, faire un complément.".

complement doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is complement, spelled C-O-M-P-L-E-M-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Compléter, remplir, faire un complément.

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 "complement"?
"complement" is spelled C-O-M-P-L-E-M-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈkɒm.plə.ˌmɛnt\.
What does "complement" mean?
As a verb, "complement" means: Compléter, remplir, faire un complément.
How do you pronounce "complement"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "complement" is \ˈkɒm.plə.ˌmɛnt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "complement" come from?
"complement" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "complement", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list