Which to use
“comprendre” and “comprends” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #600
- “comprendre” frequency rank
- #894
- “comprends” frequency rank
- 1494
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | comprendre | comprends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contenir en soi. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de comprendre. |
Where the eye mixes comprendre and comprends
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: comprendre vs comprends
A purely visual mix-up. comprendre (\kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ\) and comprends (\kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
comprendre is recorded at frequency rank #600, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃dʁ\. comprends is at rank #894, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃\.
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 1494, this pair ranks #437,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of comprendre vs comprends
Shared letters: cdemnopr. Private to "comprendre": -. Private to "comprends": s.
"comprendre" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCCV · "comprends" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- comprendre ← ccomprendre · cmoprendre · commprendre · comperndre · compprendre · comprednre · comprenddre · comprender
- comprends ← ccomprends · cmoprends · commprends · compernds · compprends · compredns · comprendds · comprendss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "comprendre" for "comprends" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "comprendre" or "comprends" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "comprendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "comprends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "comprendre" and "comprends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comprends vs comprennes". 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 #437,964 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.