Which to use
“commandement” and “commencement” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,134
- “commandement” frequency rank
- #9,970
- “commencement” frequency rank
- 14104
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commandement | commencement |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ordre que donne celui qui a pouvoir de commander. | Début (dans le temps). |
Where the eye mixes commandement and commencement
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses commandement with commencement
A purely visual mix-up. commandement (\kɔ.mɑ̃d.mɑ̃\) and commencement (\kɔ.mɑ̃s.mɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commandement is recorded at frequency rank #4,134, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃d.mɑ̃\. commencement is at rank #9,970, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃s.mɑ̃\.
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 14104, this pair ranks #398,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commandement vs commencement
Shared letters: cemnot. Private to "commandement": ad. Private to "commencement": -.
"commandement" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVCC · "commencement" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commandement ← ccommandement · cmomandement · comamndement · comandement · commadnement · commanddement · commandeemnt · commandemennt
- commencement ← ccommencement · cmomencement · comemncement · comencement · commecnement · commenccement · commenceemnt · commencemennt
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "commandement" and "commencement" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "commandement" or "commencement" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "commandement" and "commencement" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "commandement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commencement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commandement" and "commencement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencement vs commenceront". 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 #398,179 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.