Which to use
“cochons” is an adjective and “commons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,732
- “cochons” frequency rank
- #23,806
- “commons” frequency rank
- 35538
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cochons | commons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de cochon. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe commer. |
Where the eye mixes cochons and commons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cochons with commons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cochons is \kɔ.ʃɔ̃\ while commons is \kɔ.mɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35538, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cochons is recorded at frequency rank #11,732, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.ʃɔ̃\. commons is at rank #23,806, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɔ̃\.
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 35538, this pair ranks #276,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cochons vs commons
Shared letters: cnos. Private to "cochons": h. Private to "commons": m.
"cochons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "commons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cochons" and "commons" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cochons" or "commons" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cochons" and "commons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cochons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #276,011 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cochons" and "commons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commons vs compos". 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 #276,011 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.