Prior work has shown that novices’ intuitive conception of frictional force is often different from that of formal physics theory. These discrepancies can lead to challenges in physics education. The current paper focuses on a common misconception: “frictional force always resists motion.” Though frictional force is linked to relative motion (motion of one object compared to another), it is not always determined by absolute motion. We collected think-aloud protocols from participants, who had varying levels of prior knowledge, on physics problems about motion, relative motion, and frictional force. We analyzed how participants selected properties, made comparisons, and drew inferences. We found that regardless of prior knowledge, participants were able to extract relevant information from the descriptions. When collapsed across the three problem types, frequencies of comparisons did not differ. However, participants with high prior knowledge were more likely to compare objects when making inferences about force and motion. In contrast, participants with low prior knowledge were more likely to rely on insufficient information like motion of a single object. Participants with high prior knowledge were also more likely to leverage experience with other problems, by comparing across processes or constructing hypothetical scenarios.