Which to use
“commençais” and “commencerais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,907
- “commençais” frequency rank
- #45,513
- “commencerais” frequency rank
- 63420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commençais | commencerais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de commencer. | Première personne du singulier du conditionnel présent de commencer. |
Where the eye mixes commençais and commencerais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. commençais runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVVC) against commencerais's 12 (CVCCVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: commençais vs commencerais
A purely visual mix-up. commençais (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\) and commencerais (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁɛ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63420, 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\. commencerais is at rank #45,513, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁɛ\.
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 63420, this pair ranks #82,050 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of commençais vs commencerais
Shared letters: aceimnos. Private to "commençais": ç. Private to "commencerais": r.
"commençais" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "commencerais" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commencerais ← ccommencerais · cmomencerais · comemncerais · comencerais · commecnerais · commenccerais · commencearis · commenceraiss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "commençais" for "commencerais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "commençais" vs "commencerais" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "commençais" and "commencerais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "commençais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commencerais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,050 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commençais" and "commencerais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencerais vs commencerons". 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 #82,050 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.