compliment
\kɔ̃.pli.mɑ̃\
The verdict
“compliment” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #10,846 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,846
- frequency rank, French
- 10
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Paroles louant la qualité d’une chose ou d’une personne.
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 | compliment |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.pli.mɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #10,846 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “compliment” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for compliment is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ̃.pli.mɑ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #10,846 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 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 compliment, with forms such as "ccompliment", "cmopliment", and "comlpiment". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "compliments", "compliquent", "complimenter", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is compliment, spelled C-O-M-P-L-I-M-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Paroles louant la qualité d’une chose ou d’une personne.
- 2Paroles de civilité, obligeantes, flatteuses, par lesquelles on témoigne à quelqu’un le respect, l’affection, l’estime qu’on a pour lui, ou la part que l’on prend à ce qui lui arrive.
- 3Simple terme de civilité pour se rappeler au souvenir de quelqu’un.
- 4Paroles désobligeantes ou injurieuses.
- 5Opposé de l’intention réelle, des promesses effectives.
- 6Petit discours en vers ou en prose qu’on fait réciter ou présenter par un enfant à son père, à sa mère, ou à une autre personne, le jour de leur fête ou le premier jour de l’an, pour les complimenter.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccompliment,cmopliment,comlpiment,commpliment,compilment,compliemnt,complimennt,complimentt,complimetn,complimment,complimnet,complliment,complmient,comppliment,copmliment,ocmpliment
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of compliment - 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 "compliment"?
What does "compliment" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "compliment"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “compliment”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-M-P-L-I-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ̃.pli.mɑ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “compliments” - see the side-by-side comparison. compliment vs compliments
- 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.