Which to use
“comptaient” and “comptais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,093
- “comptaient” frequency rank
- #17,385
- “comptais” frequency rank
- 37478
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | comptaient | comptais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de compter. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de compter. |
Same sound, different letters: comptaient vs comptais
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Homophone desk: comptaient vs comptais
This is the hard kind. comptaient and comptais are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃.tɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
comptaient is recorded at frequency rank #20,093, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛ\. comptais is at rank #17,385, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛ\.
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 37478, this pair ranks #262,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of comptaient vs comptais
Shared letters: acimopt. Private to "comptaient": en. Private to "comptais": s.
"comptaient" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVVCC · "comptais" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- comptaient ← ccomptaient · cmoptaient · commptaient · compatient · compptaient · comptaeint · comptaiennt · comptaientt
- comptais ← ccomptais · cmoptais · commptais · compptais · comptaiss · comptasi · comptias · compttais
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "comptaient" for "comptais" ever safe?
Which is more common, "comptaient" or "comptais"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "comptaient" / "comptais". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "comptaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "comptais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #262,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "comptaient" and "comptais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptais vs comptées". 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 #262,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.