comptesvscomptonsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,251
“comptes” frequency rank
#21,268
“comptons” frequency rank
22519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comptes comptons
Definition Pluriel de compte. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de compter.

Where the eye mixes comptes and comptons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
comptes
8 ch
comptons

Why the eye confuses comptes with comptons

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: comptes is \kɔ̃t\ while comptons is \kɔ̃.tɔ̃\. 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 22519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comptes is recorded at frequency rank #1,251, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃t\. comptons is at rank #21,268, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɔ̃\.

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 22519, this pair ranks #357,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comptes vs comptons

Shared letters: cmopst. Private to "comptes": e. Private to "comptons": n.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comptesccomptes · cmoptes · commptes · compets · compptes · comptess · comptse · compttes
  • comptonsccomptons · cmoptons · commptons · compotns · compptons · comptnos · comptonns · comptonss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "comptes" and "comptons" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "comptes" is a noun and "comptons" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "comptes" or "comptons"?
"comptes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,251 in our French list, against #21,268 for "comptons". 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 "comptes" and "comptons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comptes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comptons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #357,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comptes" and "comptons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptées vs comptons". 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 #357,563 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