Which to use
“commencent” and “commencèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,128
- “commencent” frequency rank
- #19,783
- “commencèrent” frequency rank
- 22911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commencent | commencèrent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de commencer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de commencer. |
Where the eye mixes commencent and commencèrent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. commencent runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCC) against commencèrent's 12 (CVCCVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between commencent and commencèrent
A purely visual mix-up. commencent (\kɔ.mɑ̃s\) and commencèrent (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛʁ\) 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 22911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commencent is recorded at frequency rank #3,128, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃s\. commencèrent is at rank #19,783, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sɛʁ\.
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 22911, this pair ranks #355,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commencent vs commencèrent
Shared letters: cemnot. Private to "commencent": -. Private to "commencèrent": rè.
"commencent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "commencèrent" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commencent ← ccommencent · cmomencent · comemncent · comencent · commecnent · commenccent · commencennt · commencentt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "commencent" for "commencèrent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "commencent" or "commencèrent" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "commencent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commencèrent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #355,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commencent" and "commencèrent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencèrent 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 #355,427 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.