commisvsComtoisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,563
“commis” frequency rank
#32,753
“Comtois” frequency rank
35316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature commis Comtois
Definition Celui qui, dans une administration, une banque ou une maison de commerce, est chargé d’un emploi dont il doit rendre compte. Habitant de La Comté, commune française située dans le département du Pas-de-Calais.

Where the eye mixes commis and Comtois

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

6 ch
commis
7 ch
Comtois

Why the eye confuses commis with Comtois

A purely visual mix-up. commis (\kɔ.mi\) and Comtois (\kɔ̃.twa\) 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 35316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commis is recorded at frequency rank #2,563, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mi\. Comtois is at rank #32,753, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.twa\.

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 35316, this pair ranks #277,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of commis vs Comtois

Shared letters: cimos. Private to "commis": -. Private to "Comtois": t.

"commis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Comtois" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commisccommis · cmomis · comims · comis · commiss · commsi · ocmmis
  • Comtoisccomtois · cmotois · commtois · comotis · comtios · comtoiss · comtosi · comttois

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "commis" and "Comtois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.mi\ versus \kɔ̃.twa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "commis" vs "Comtois" - which ranks higher?
"commis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,563 in our French list, against #32,753 for "Comtois". 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 "commis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Comtois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "commis" and "Comtois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compos vs Comtois". 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 #277,614 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