Maksim Chmerkovskiy should know better than to compare female partners.

The Dancing With The Stars pro insists his current leading lady, Drama Queen Denise Richards, takes the competition just as seriously as his past partners.

“Denise is so dedicated to this show,” Chmerkovskiy told People. “I don’t see any difference between how hard she works compared to working with [past partners] Misty [May-Treanor] and Laila [Ali].”  

The problem? (Besides the fact that Misty and Laila worked harder and complained less.)

When you’re comparing two like things, such as two dancers, say “compared with.” Use “compared to” when likening different types of things. Denise compared dancing on prime-time TV to touching God.