completvscompterWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: complet is a adjective, compter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“complet” is an adjective and “compter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,807
“complet” frequency rank
#1,323
“compter” frequency rank
3130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature complet compter
Definition À quoi il ne manque aucune des parties nécessaires. Déterminer (une quantité, un nombre), plus particulièrement par un dénombrement, sinon par un calcul.

Where the eye mixes complet and compter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
complet
7 ch
compter

Visual trap between complet and compter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: complet is \kɔ̃.plɛ\ while compter is \kɔ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

complet is recorded at frequency rank #1,807, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.plɛ\. compter is at rank #1,323, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\.

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 3130, this pair ranks #434,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of complet vs compter

Shared letters: cemopt. Private to "complet": l. Private to "compter": r.

"complet" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "compter" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • completccomplet · cmoplet · comlpet · commplet · compelt · complett · compllet · complte
  • compterccompter · cmopter · commpter · competr · comppter · compterr · comptre · comptter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "complet" and "compter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "complet" is an adjective and "compter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "complet" vs "compter" - which ranks higher?
"compter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,323 in our French list, against #1,807 for "complet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "complet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "compter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #434,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "complet" and "compter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptées vs compter". 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 #434,727 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