comètevscomptesTell them apart

Which to use

“comète” and “comptes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,931
“comète” frequency rank
#1,251
“comptes” frequency rank
14182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comète comptes
Definition Petit corps du système solaire ayant une orbite elliptique le rapprochant du Soleil, ce qui déclenche une période d’activité de son noyau et lui fait éjecter de la matière et du gaz ionisé sous forme de queues. Pluriel de compte.

Where the eye mixes comète and comptes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
comète
7 ch
comptes

Look-alike desk: comète vs comptes

A purely visual mix-up. comète (\kɔ.mɛt\) and comptes (\kɔ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comète is recorded at frequency rank #12,931, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɛt\. comptes is at rank #1,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 14182, this pair ranks #397,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comète vs comptes

Shared letters: cemot. Private to "comète": è. Private to "comptes": ps.

"comète" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "comptes" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comptesccomptes · cmoptes · commptes · compets · compptes · comptess · comptse · compttes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "comète" for "comptes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.mɛt\ versus \kɔ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "comète" or "comptes" show up more?
"comptes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,251 in our French list, against #12,931 for "comète". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comptes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #397,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comète" and "comptes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comète vs Cosette". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #397,804 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list