Which to use
“commençais” and “commencées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,907
- “commençais” frequency rank
- #47,799
- “commencées” frequency rank
- 65706
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commençais | commencées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de commencer. | Participe passé féminin pluriel de commencer. |
Where the eye mixes commençais and commencées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. commençais and commencées follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: commençais vs commencées
A purely visual mix-up. commençais (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\) and commencées (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commençais is recorded at frequency rank #17,907, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\. commencées is at rank #47,799, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\.
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 65706, this pair ranks #71,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of commençais vs commencées
Shared letters: cemnos. Private to "commençais": aiç. Private to "commencées": é.
"commençais" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "commencées" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "commençais" and "commencées" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "commençais" vs "commencées" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "commençais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commencées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commençais" and "commencées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencées vs compensées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #71,120 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.