comitévscomtésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,088
“comité” frequency rank
#18,441
“comtés” frequency rank
19529
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comité comtés
Definition Réunion de personnes commises par un groupement (assemblée, société, syndicat, etc.) pour l’examen et la préparation de certaines affaires ou pour assurer la marche de toutes les affaires concernant ce groupement. Pluriel de comté.

Where the eye mixes comité and comtés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. comité (CVCVCV) and comtés (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
comité
6 ch
comtés

Why the eye confuses comité with comtés

A purely visual mix-up. comité (\kɔ.mi.te\) and comtés (\kɔ̃.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comité is recorded at frequency rank #1,088, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mi.te\. comtés is at rank #18,441, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\.

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 19529, this pair ranks #372,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comité vs comtés

Shared letters: cmoté. Private to "comité": i. Private to "comtés": s.

"comité" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "comtés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "comité" and "comtés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.mi.te\ versus \kɔ̃.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "comité" or "comtés"?
"comité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,088 in our French list, against #18,441 for "comtés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comtés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #372,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comité" and "comtés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptées vs comtés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #372,812 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