comenvscomencéTell them apart

Which to use

“comen” and “comencé” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,155
“comen” frequency rank
#8,354
“comencé” frequency rank
14509
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comen comencé
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de comer o de comerse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de comenzar.

Where the eye mixes comen and comencé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
comen
7 ch
comencé

Look-alike desk: comen vs comencé

A purely visual mix-up. comen ([ˈkomẽn]) and comencé ([komẽnˈse]) 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) - “comen” sits inside “comencé”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14509, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comen is recorded at frequency rank #6,155, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkomẽn]. comencé is at rank #8,354, tagged as averb, pronounced [komẽnˈse].

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 14509, this pair ranks #283,842 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comen vs comencé

Shared letters: cemno. Private to "comen": -. Private to "comencé": é.

"comen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "comencé" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comenccomen · cmoen · coemn · comenn · commen · comne · ocmen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "comen" for "comencé" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkomẽn] versus [komẽnˈse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "comen" vs "comencé" - which ranks higher?
"comen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,155 in our Spanish list, against #8,354 for "comencé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comencé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,842 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comen" and "comencé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coin vs comen". 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 #283,842 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list