Which to use
“command” and “commander” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,032
- “command” frequency rank
- #2,935
- “commander” frequency rank
- 4967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | command | commander |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An order to do something. | One who exercises control and direction of a military or naval organization. |
Where the eye mixes command and commander
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: command vs commander
A purely visual mix-up. command (/kəˈmɑːnd/) and commander (/kəˈmændɚ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “command” sits inside “commander”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
command is recorded at frequency rank #2,032, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəˈmɑːnd/. commander is at rank #2,935, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kəˈmændɚ/.
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 4967, this pair ranks #517,062 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of command vs commander
Shared letters: acdmno. Private to "command": -. Private to "commander": er.
"command" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "commander" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "command" and "commander" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "command" vs "commander" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "command" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commander" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #517,062 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "command" and "commander" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "command vs comming". 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 #517,062 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.