Which to use
“commencée” and “commencer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,332
- “commencée” frequency rank
- #976
- “commencer” frequency rank
- 16308
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commencée | commencer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin singulier de commencer. | Engager une action, entreprendre une tâche, donner à une chose un commencement d’existence. |
Same sound, different letters: commencée vs commencer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. commencée (CVCCVCCVV) and commencer (CVCCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - commencée and commencer
This is the hard kind. commencée and commencer 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commencée is recorded at frequency rank #15,332, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. commencer is at rank #976, 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 16308, this pair ranks #388,414 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commencée vs commencer
Shared letters: cemno. Private to "commencée": é. Private to "commencer": r.
"commencée" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV · "commencer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commencer ← ccommencer · cmomencer · comemncer · comencer · commecner · commenccer · commencerr · commencre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "commencée" and "commencer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "commencée" or "commencer"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "commencée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commencer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,414 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commencée" and "commencer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencée 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 #388,414 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.