Which to use
“commissioned” is an adjective and “commissioner” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,545
- “commissioned” frequency rank
- #3,415
- “commissioner” frequency rank
- 10960
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commissioned | commissioner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Holding a commission; officially appointed. | A member of a commission. |
Where the eye mixes commissioned and commissioner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between commissioned and commissioner
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: commissioned is /kəˈmɪʃənd/ while commissioner is /kəˈmɪʃənɚ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “commissioned” becomes r in “commissioner”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commissioned is recorded at frequency rank #7,545, classified as anadj, pronounced /kəˈmɪʃənd/. commissioner is at rank #3,415, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kəˈmɪʃənɚ/.
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 10960, this pair ranks #489,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commissioned vs commissioner
Shared letters: ceimnos. Private to "commissioned": d. Private to "commissioner": r.
"commissioned" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCVC · "commissioner" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commissioned ← ccommissioned · cmomissioned · comimssioned · comissioned · commisioned · commisisoned · commissinoed · commissioend
- commissioner ← ccommissioner · cmomissioner · comimssioner · comissioner · commisioner · commisisoner · commissinoer · commissioenr
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "commissioned" for "commissioner" ever safe?
Which is more common, "commissioned" or "commissioner"?
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 "commissioned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commissioner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #489,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commissioned" and "commissioner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commissioned vs commissioners". 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 #489,607 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.