Which to use
“commande” and “commando” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,166
- “commande” frequency rank
- #14,637
- “commando” frequency rank
- 16803
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commande | commando |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Unité spéciale entraînée pour exécuter des missions dangereuses sur des objectifs déterminés. |
Where the eye mixes commande and commando
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses commande with commando
A purely visual mix-up. commande (\kɔ.mɑ̃d\) and commando (\kɔ.mɑ̃.do\) 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 a single letter - e in “commande” becomes o in “commando”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commande is recorded at frequency rank #2,166, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃d\. commando is at rank #14,637, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.do\.
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 16803, this pair ranks #386,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commande vs commando
Shared letters: acdmno. Private to "commande": e. Private to "commando": -.
"commande" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "commando" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "commande" and "commando" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "commande" or "commando" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "commande" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #386,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commande" and "commando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "command vs commando". 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 #386,182 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.