compilvscomposConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#46,665
“compil” frequency rank
#47,240
“compos” frequency rank
93905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compil compos
Definition Compilation. Pluriel de compo.

Where the eye mixes compil and compos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
compil
6 ch
compos

Visual trap between compil and compos

A purely visual mix-up. compil (\kɔ̃.pil\) and compos (\kɔ̃.po\) 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 93905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compil is recorded at frequency rank #46,665, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.pil\. compos is at rank #47,240, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.po\.

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 93905, this pair ranks #1,957 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of compil vs compos

Shared letters: cmop. Private to "compil": il. Private to "compos": s.

"compil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "compos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • compilccompil · cmopil · comipl · commpil · compill · compli · comppil · copmil
  • composccompos · cmopos · commpos · comops · composs · comppos · compso · copmos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "compil" and "compos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.pil\ versus \kɔ̃.po\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "compil" or "compos" show up more?
"compil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,665 in our French list, against #47,240 for "compos". 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 "compil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "compos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,957 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "compil" and "compos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compos vs composez". 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 #1,957 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