complicesvscomptinesTell them apart

Quick tell: complices is a adjective, comptines is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“complices” is an adjective and “comptines” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,622
“complices” frequency rank
#48,418
“comptines” frequency rank
58040
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature complices comptines
Definition Pluriel de complice. Pluriel de comptine.

Where the eye mixes complices and comptines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. complices and comptines 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
comptines

Look-alike desk: complices vs comptines

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: complices is \kɔ̃.plis\ while comptines is \kɔ̃.tin\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58040, 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\. comptines is at rank #48,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tin\.

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 58040, this pair ranks #111,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of complices vs comptines

Shared letters: ceimops. Private to "complices": l. Private to "comptines": nt.

"complices" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "comptines" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • complices ← ccomplices · cmoplices · comlpices · commplices · compilces · complcies · complicces · complicess
  • comptines ← ccomptines · cmoptines · commptines · compitnes · compptines · comptiens · comptiness · comptinnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "complices" for "comptines" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "complices" is an adjective and "comptines" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "complices" vs "comptines" - which ranks higher?
"complices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,622 in our French list, against #48,418 for "comptines". 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 "complices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comptines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "complices" and "comptines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptées 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 #111,431 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