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Consist and Comprise
(...)
compose
comprise
consist
constitute.
(...)
The easiest way to preserve the correct usage is to remember that consist of means “be composed of” and the preposition-less comprise means “contain”. ...
http://www.bikwil.com/Vintage47/Consist-and-C...

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/comprise
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consist
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/contain
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/involve

comprise and consitute are the most intellectual words, then consist of.

involve has other contextes, rarely used in this context. compose only works in the passive, it is composed of.

consists of is the most common

constist of = bestehen aus, sich zusammensetzen aus.
contain = enthalten, umfassen, beinhalten.

comprise ist am schwierigsten. Eigentlich heißt es ebenfalls bestehen aus, umfassen:
- The Pacific Mountain region comprises five counties.
- The Ulster Unionist Council archive comprises 200 volumes and c.60000 files and documents.
- The clinical course of tuberculosis comprises a sequence of different stages.
Andererseits wird es auch andersherum im Sinne von "bilden, ausmachen, formen" benutzt, besonders in der Form "comprises of", allerdings scheint umstritten zu sein, ob diese Verwendung richtig ist:
- What comprises a great song?
- ‘Monday sickness’ comprises nearly 35% of all ‘sick leave’.
- Wireless mesh networks comprises of a set of wireless routers interconnecting a set of wireless host nodes.
Siehe dazu:
http://grammarrule.blogspot.com/2006/11/engli...
http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#120

Edit: Im letzten Beispiel scheint mir die 3. Person Singular etwas zweifelhaft. Hier ein anderes:
- This stunning set comprises of four rings, all of which are shown below.

Kyle, the native speaker who never learnt to capitalise in English.

Und involve bedeutet einbeziehen; es kann zwar auch umfassen, beinhalten bedeuten, aber dann eher im Sinne von nach sich ziehen, mit sich bringen, zur Folge haben:
- Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding.
- This typically involves that we conduct our own biostudies prior to approaching potential partners.

Wenn es "beinhalten" heißt, dann bezieht es sich nicht wie consist of auf den gesamten Inhalt, sondern bezeichnet eher eine Teilmenge, d. h. es kann eher mit "unter anderem/auch beinhalten" übersetzt werden:
- A recent outbreak of streptococcal throat infections involved bacteria that are resistant to erythromycin.
- What horror movie involves a demon and a group of high school students in a field? (Na ja - hier würde man wohl besser übersetzen: "In welchem Horrorfilm kommen ... vor?")

Dieses Beispiel allerdings:
- Ferrari crash involves alcohol, speed and a white Porsche, police say
kann ich weder mit (teilweise) beinhalten, einbeziehen, umfassen noch mit nach sich ziehen o. ä. elegant übersetzen. Mir fallen nur diese Konstruktionen ein:
- Alkohol, (überhöhte) Geschwindigkeit und weißer Porsche (sind/waren) laut Polizei in Ferrari-Unfall verwickelt
- Bei Ferrari-Unfall spiel(t)en Alkohol, (überhöhte) Geschwindigkeit und weißer Porsche eine Rolle, so die Polizei

@#: Many English speakers use "comprise" incorrectly, especially in the form "is comprised of"; the latter should almost always be "consists of" or "is made up of."

What comprises a great song? -> What constitutes a great song?

Wireless mesh networks comprises of a set of wireless routers -> A wireless mesh network consists of a set of wireless routers

(Note it is better style to say "a netwok" (singular) to match "a set" later in the sentence.)

One way to remember the difference: The whole comprises the parts; the parts constitute the whole.

Another way to remember: The word "comprise" derives from the Latin for "fist." So think of a fist enclosing what is within it ...

The most important thing to remember is that you should never use 'of' with 'comprise'; it should be 'is composed of,' 'consists of,' etc.

Don't be misled by the fact that many people say is comprised *of; unfortunately it's very common, but it's still just wrong.

Siehe auch: comprise of / comprise

The examples that Henk lists as 'umstritten' in #3, and the last one there, are all wrong. So is the sentence with 'involves *that' in #5; it's apparently by a non-native.

Because 'comprise' is tricky to use correctly, and is rather formal anyway, the easy way out is just not to use it. There are always other options.