companies vs compares, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“companies” is a noun and “compares” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,076
“companies” frequency rank: #44,939
“compares” frequency rank: 91015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	companies	compares
Definition	Pluriel de company.	Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de comparer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set companies and compares apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

companies

8 ch

compares

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: companies is \ˈkʌm.pə.niz\ while compares is \kɔ̃.paʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

companies is recorded at frequency rank #46,076, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkʌm.pə.niz\. compares is at rank #44,939, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.paʁ\.

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 91015, this pair ranks #4,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of companies vs compares

Shared letters: acemops. Private to "companies": in. Private to "compares": r.

"companies" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "compares" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

companies ← ccompanies · cmopanies · comapnies · commpanies · compaines · companeis · companiess · companise
compares ← ccompares · cmopares · comapres · commpares · compaers · comparres · comparse · comppares

Frequency comparison

companies#46,076

compares#44,939

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "companies" and "compares" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "companies" is a noun and "compares" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "companies" or "compares"?

"compares" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,939 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.

Remembering companies vs compares

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “companies”; for a verb, it's “compares”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “companies” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable