complicesvscomprisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,622
“complices” frequency rank
#13,139
“comprises” frequency rank
22761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature complices comprises
Definition Pluriel de complice. Féminin pluriel de compris.

Where the eye mixes complices and comprises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. complices and comprises follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
complices
9 ch
comprises

Look-alike desk: complices vs comprises

A purely visual mix-up. complices (\kɔ̃.plis\) and comprises (\kɔ̃.pʁiz\) 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 22761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

complices is recorded at frequency rank #9,622, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.plis\. comprises is at rank #13,139, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.pʁiz\.

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 22761, this pair ranks #356,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of complices vs comprises

Shared letters: ceimops. Private to "complices": l. Private to "comprises": r.

"complices" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "comprises" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • complices ← ccomplices · cmoplices · comlpices · commplices · compilces · complcies · complicces · complicess
  • comprises ← ccomprises · cmoprises · commprises · compirses · compprises · compriess · comprisess · comprisses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "complices" and "comprises" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.plis\ versus \kɔ̃.pʁiz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "complices" or "comprises"?
"complices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,622 in our French list, against #13,139 for "comprises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "complices" and "comprises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "complices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comprises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #356,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "complices" and "comprises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comprises vs comptines". 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 #356,290 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