Which to use
“comportent” and “comptent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,138
- “comportent” frequency rank
- #5,739
- “comptent” frequency rank
- 14877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | comportent | comptent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de comporter. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de compter. |
Where the eye mixes comportent and comptent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. comportent runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCC) against comptent's 8 (CVCCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between comportent and comptent
A purely visual mix-up. comportent (\kɔ̃.pɔʁt\) and comptent (\kɔ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
comportent is recorded at frequency rank #9,138, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.pɔʁt\. comptent is at rank #5,739, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃t\.
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 14877, this pair ranks #394,824 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of comportent vs comptent
Shared letters: cemnopt. Private to "comportent": r. Private to "comptent": -.
"comportent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "comptent" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- comportent ← ccomportent · cmoportent · commportent · comoprtent · comporetnt · comporrtent · comportennt · comportentt
- comptent ← ccomptent · cmoptent · commptent · competnt · compptent · comptennt · comptentt · comptetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "comportent" for "comptent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "comportent" or "comptent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "comportent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "comptent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,824 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "comportent" and "comptent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptées vs comptent". 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 #394,824 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.