compagnevscompagnieWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,038
“compagne” frequency rank
#751
“compagnie” frequency rank
7789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compagne compagnie
Definition Celle qui partage le sort de quelqu’un. Réunion de plusieurs personnes assemblées pour le plaisir d’être en société.

Where the eye mixes compagne and compagnie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. compagne runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against compagnie's 9 (CVCCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
compagne
9 ch
compagnie

Visual trap between compagne and compagnie

A purely visual mix-up. compagne (\kɔ̃.paɲ\) and compagnie (\kɔ̃.pa.ɲi\) 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 7789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compagne is recorded at frequency rank #7,038, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.paɲ\. compagnie is at rank #751, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.pa.ɲi\.

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 7789, this pair ranks #422,117 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of compagne vs compagnie

Shared letters: acegmnop. Private to "compagne": -. Private to "compagnie": i.

"compagne" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "compagnie" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • compagne ← ccompagne · cmopagne · comapgne · commpagne · compagen · compaggne · compagnne · compange
  • compagnie ← ccompagnie · cmopagnie · comapgnie · commpagnie · compaggnie · compagine · compagnei · compagnnie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "compagne" for "compagnie" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.paɲ\ versus \kɔ̃.pa.ɲi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "compagne" or "compagnie"?
"compagnie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #751 in our French list, against #7,038 for "compagne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "compagne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "compagnie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #422,117 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "compagne" and "compagnie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compagne vs comptine". 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 #422,117 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