compagnesvscompaniesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,292
“compagnes” frequency rank
#46,076
“companies” frequency rank
75368
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compagnes companies
Definition Pluriel de compagne. Pluriel de company.

Where the eye mixes compagnes and companies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
compagnes
9 ch
companies

Visual trap between compagnes and companies

A purely visual mix-up. compagnes (\kɔ̃.paɲ\) and companies (\ˈkʌm.pə.niz\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compagnes is recorded at frequency rank #29,292, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.paɲ\. companies is at rank #46,076, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkʌm.pə.niz\.

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 75368, this pair ranks #34,303 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of compagnes vs companies

Shared letters: acemnops. Private to "compagnes": g. Private to "companies": i.

"compagnes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "companies" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • compagnesccompagnes · cmopagnes · comapgnes · commpagnes · compagens · compaggnes · compagness · compagnnes
  • companiesccompanies · cmopanies · comapnies · commpanies · compaines · companeis · companiess · companise

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "compagnes" and "companies" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.paɲ\ versus \ˈkʌm.pə.niz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "compagnes" or "companies"?
"compagnes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,292 in our French list, against #46,076 for "companies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "compagnes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "companies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,303 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "compagnes" and "companies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "companies vs compares". 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 #34,303 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