comptevscorteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#196
“compte” frequency rank
#27,386
“corte” frequency rank
27582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature compte corte
Definition Action de compter, dénombrement, calcul opéré sur tel ou tel ensemble de choses ; résultat de cette action. Cour.

Where the eye mixes compte and corte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
compte
5 ch
corte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. compte (\kɔ̃t\) and corte (\ˈkɔr.te\) 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 27582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

compte is recorded at frequency rank #196, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\. corte is at rank #27,386, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɔr.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 27582, this pair ranks #328,053 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of compte vs corte

Shared letters: ceot. Private to "compte": mp. Private to "corte": r.

"compte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "corte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • compteccompte · cmopte · commpte · compet · comppte · comptte · comtpe · copmte
  • corteccorte · coret · corrte · cotre · ocrte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "compte" and "corte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃t\ versus \ˈkɔr.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "compte" or "corte"?
"compte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #196 in our French list, against #27,386 for "corte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list