complexitévscomplicitéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,480
“complexité” frequency rank
#6,936
“complicité” frequency rank
13416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature complexité complicité
Definition Caractère de ce qui est complexe. Participation au délit ou au crime d’un autre.

Where the eye mixes complexité and complicité

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

10 ch
complexité
10 ch
complicité

Look-alike desk: complexité vs complicité

A purely visual mix-up. complexité (\kɔ̃.plɛk.si.te\) and complicité (\kɔ̃.pli.si.te\) 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 13416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

complexité is recorded at frequency rank #6,480, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.plɛk.si.te\. complicité is at rank #6,936, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.pli.si.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 13416, this pair ranks #401,119 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of complexité vs complicité

Shared letters: cilmopté. Private to "complexité": ex. Private to "complicité": -.

"complexité" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV  ·  "complicité" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "complexité" for "complicité" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.plɛk.si.te\ versus \kɔ̃.pli.si.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "complexité" or "complicité"?
"complexité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,480 in our French list, against #6,936 for "complicité". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "complexité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "complicité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,119 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "complexité" and "complicité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "complicité vs complicités". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #401,119 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