comptavscompterWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: compta is a noun, compter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“compta” is a noun and “compter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,673
“compta” frequency rank
#1,323
“compter” frequency rank
21996
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compta compter
Definition Comptabilité, tenue des comptes, la manière, l’action de rendre et d’établir des comptes. Déterminer (une quantité, un nombre), plus particulièrement par un dénombrement, sinon par un calcul.

Where the eye mixes compta and compter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
compta
7 ch
compter

Visual trap between compta and compter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: compta is \kɔ̃.ta\ while compter is \kɔ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compta is recorded at frequency rank #20,673, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.ta\. compter is at rank #1,323, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.te\.

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 21996, this pair ranks #360,338 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of compta vs compter

Shared letters: cmopt. Private to "compta": a. Private to "compter": er.

"compta" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "compter" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comptaccompta · cmopta · commpta · compat · comppta · comptta · comtpa · copmta
  • compterccompter · cmopter · commpter · competr · comppter · compterr · comptre · comptter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "compta" and "compter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "compta" is a noun and "compter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "compta" or "compter"?
"compter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,323 in our French list, against #20,673 for "compta". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "compta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "compter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #360,338 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "compta" and "compter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compta vs coupa". 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 #360,338 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