commandvscommandeConfusable pair

Which to use

“command” and “commande” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,471
“command” frequency rank
#2,166
“commande” frequency rank
36637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature command commande
Definition Acte par lequel une personne, lors d’une vente amiable ou adjudicataire se substitue à l’acquéreur ou à l’adjudicataire. Ordre donné à un fabricant, à un ouvrier, à un artiste de faire un certain ouvrage, ou à un marchand de faire une certaine livraison.

Where the eye mixes command and commande

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
command
8 ch
commande

Why the eye confuses command with commande

A purely visual mix-up. command (\kɔ.mɑ̃\) and commande (\kɔ.mɑ̃d\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “command” sits inside “commande”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

command is recorded at frequency rank #34,471, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃\. commande is at rank #2,166, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃d\.

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 36637, this pair ranks #268,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of command vs commande

Shared letters: acdmno. Private to "command": -. Private to "commande": e.

"command" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "commande" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commandccommand · cmomand · comamnd · comand · commadn · commandd · commannd · commnad
  • commandeccommande · cmomande · comamnde · comande · commadne · commandde · commaned · commannde

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "command" and "commande" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.mɑ̃\ versus \kɔ.mɑ̃d\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "command" or "commande"?
"commande" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,166 in our French list, against #34,471 for "command". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "command" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "commande" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #268,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "command" and "commande" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "command vs commanda". 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 #268,195 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list