commencéesvscommençonsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,799
“commencées” frequency rank
#13,546
“commençons” frequency rank
61345
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature commencées commençons
Definition Participe passé féminin pluriel de commencer. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de commencer.

Where the eye mixes commencées and commençons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. commencées (CVCCVCCVVC) and commençons (CVCCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
commencées
10 ch
commençons

Visual trap between commencées and commençons

A purely visual mix-up. commencées (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\) and commençons (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃\) 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 61345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commencées is recorded at frequency rank #47,799, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. commençons is at rank #13,546, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃\.

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 61345, this pair ranks #92,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of commencées vs commençons

Shared letters: cemnos. Private to "commencées": é. Private to "commençons": ç.

"commencées" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "commençons" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "commencées" for "commençons" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\ versus \kɔ.mɑ̃.sɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "commencées" or "commençons"?
"commençons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,546 in our French list, against #47,799 for "commencées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "commencées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "commençons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "commencées" and "commençons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencées vs compensées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #92,765 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list