comprendsvscomprennesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#894
“comprends” frequency rank
#38,212
“comprennes” frequency rank
39106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comprends comprennes
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de comprendre. Deuxième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de comprendre.

Where the eye mixes comprends and comprennes

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

9 ch
comprends
10 ch
comprennes

Look-alike desk: comprends vs comprennes

A purely visual mix-up. comprends (\kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃\) and comprennes (\kɔ̃.pʁɛn\) 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 39106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comprends is recorded at frequency rank #894, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃\. comprennes is at rank #38,212, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.pʁɛn\.

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 39106, this pair ranks #250,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of comprends vs comprennes

Shared letters: cemnoprs. Private to "comprends": d. Private to "comprennes": -.

"comprends" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCC  ·  "comprennes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comprendsccomprends · cmoprends · commprends · compernds · compprends · compredns · comprendds · comprendss
  • comprennesccomprennes · cmoprennes · commprennes · compernnes · compprennes · comprenens · comprenes · comprenness

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "comprends" and "comprennes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.pʁɑ̃\ versus \kɔ̃.pʁɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "comprends" or "comprennes"?
"comprends" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #894 in our French list, against #38,212 for "comprennes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comprends" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comprennes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #250,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comprends" and "comprennes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compreniez 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 #250,467 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