Which to use
“commençais” and “commences” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,907
- “commençais” frequency rank
- #9,800
- “commences” frequency rank
- 27707
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commençais | commences |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de commencer. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de commencer. |
Where the eye mixes commençais and commences
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses commençais with commences
A purely visual mix-up. commençais (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛ\) and commences (\kɔ.mɑ̃s\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27707, 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\. commences is at rank #9,800, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃s\.
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 27707, this pair ranks #327,295 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of commençais vs commences
Shared letters: cemnos. Private to "commençais": aiç. Private to "commences": -.
"commençais" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "commences" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commences ← ccommences · cmomences · comemnces · comences · commecnes · commencces · commencess · commencse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "commençais" and "commences" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "commençais" vs "commences" - 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 "commences" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,295 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commençais" and "commences" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commençais vs commencées". 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 #327,295 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.