commencé vs commencées, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“commencé” and “commencées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#916
“commencé” frequency rank: #47,799
“commencées” frequency rank: 48715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	commencé	commencées
Definition	Participe passé masculin singulier de commencer.	Participe passé féminin pluriel de commencer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set commencé and commencées apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

commencé

10 ch

commencées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. commencé and commencées are pronounced identically (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “commencé” sits inside “commencées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commencé is recorded at frequency rank #916, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. 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 48715, this pair ranks #176,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of commencé vs commencées

Shared letters: cemnoé. Private to "commencé": -. Private to "commencées": s.

"commencé" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "commencées" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Frequency comparison

commencé#916

commencées#47,799

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "commencé" and "commencées" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "commencé" or "commencées"?

"commencé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #916 in our French list, against #47,799 for "commencées". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering commencé vs commencées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “commencé” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable