comptentvscomptesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,739
“comptent” frequency rank
#1,251
“comptes” frequency rank
6990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comptent comptes
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de compter. Pluriel de compte.

Same sound, different letters: comptent vs comptes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

8 ch
comptent
7 ch
comptes

Ear matches; page differs - comptent and comptes

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: comptent and comptes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ̃t\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comptent is recorded at frequency rank #5,739, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃t\. comptes is at rank #1,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\.

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 6990, this pair ranks #424,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comptent vs comptes

Shared letters: cemopt. Private to "comptent": n. Private to "comptes": s.

"comptent" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC  ·  "comptes" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comptentccomptent · cmoptent · commptent · competnt · compptent · comptennt · comptentt · comptetn
  • comptesccomptes · cmoptes · commptes · compets · compptes · comptess · comptse · compttes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "comptent" for "comptes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "comptent" is a verb and "comptes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "comptent" vs "comptes" - which ranks higher?
"comptes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,251 in our French list, against #5,739 for "comptent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"comptent" and "comptes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comptent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comptes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comptent" and "comptes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptées vs comptent". 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 #424,595 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