Which to use
“comparses” and “compères” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,187
- “comparses” frequency rank
- #29,701
- “compères” frequency rank
- 70888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | comparses | compères |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de comparse. | Pluriel de compère. |
Where the eye mixes comparses and compères
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between comparses and compères
A purely visual mix-up. comparses (\kɔ̃.paʁs\) and compères (\kɔ̃.pɛʁ\) 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 70888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
comparses is recorded at frequency rank #41,187, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.paʁs\. compères is at rank #29,701, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.pɛʁ\.
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 70888, this pair ranks #49,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of comparses vs compères
Shared letters: cemoprs. Private to "comparses": a. Private to "compères": è.
"comparses" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "compères" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- comparses ← ccomparses · cmoparses · comaprses · commparses · comparess · comparrses · comparsess · comparsse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "comparses" for "compères" ever safe?
Which is more common, "comparses" or "compères"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "comparses" and "compères" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "comparses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "compères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "comparses" and "compères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "companies vs comparses". 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 #49,595 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.