commencer

/\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\/ verb

Letters

9 characters

Frequency Rank

#976

in French word usage

Misspellings

12

tracked variants

Confusables

19

similar word pairs

commencer is aFrenchverb. It means: Engager une action, entreprendre une tâche, donner à une chose un commencement d’existence. Pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. It ranks #976 in French word frequency. Often confused with commerce and commente.

Key facts for commencer
PropertyValue
Headwordcommencer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\
Letters9
Frequency rank#976
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of commencer in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for commencer is 9 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. Corpus data places it at rank #976 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for commencer, with forms such as "ccommencer", "cmomencer", and "comemncer". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "commerce", "commente", "commerces", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is commencer, spelled C-O-M-M-E-N-C-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Engager une action, entreprendre une tâche, donner à une chose un commencement d’existence.
  2. 2
    Entrer dans un nouvel état, dans une nouvelle situation.
  3. 3
    Être au début d'une période de temps.
  4. 4
    Être encore dans les premiers temps d'une période déterminée.
  5. 5
    Faire une première chose au début d'une période donnée.
  6. 6
    Donner, à quelqu’un, les premières leçons, les premiers commencements d'un art, d'une science.
  7. 7
    Donner les premières leçons de manège à un cheval.
  8. 8
    Entrer dans son commencement.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccommencer,cmomencer,comemncer,comencer,commecner,commenccer,commencerr,commencre,commenecr,commenncer,commnecer,ocmmencer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for commencer

Misspelling Variants of "commencer"

ccommencer10cmomencer9comemncer9comencer8commecner9commenccer10commencerr10commencre9
Misspelling Variants of "commencer"

Frequency rank: #976 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "commencer"?
"commencer" is spelled C-O-M-M-E-N-C-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\.
What does "commencer" mean?
As a verb, "commencer" means: Engager une action, entreprendre une tâche, donner à une chose un commencement d’existence.
What words are commonly confused with "commencer"?
"commencer" is commonly confused with "commerce", "commente", "commerces". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "commencer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "commencer" is \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "commencer" come from?
"commencer" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.