commencervscommenceraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#976
“commencer” frequency rank
#13,751
“commencera” frequency rank
14727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature commencer commencera
Definition Engager une action, entreprendre une tâche, donner à une chose un commencement d’existence. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de commencer.

Where the eye mixes commencer and commencera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. commencer runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against commencera's 10 (CVCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
commencer
10 ch
commencera

Look-alike desk: commencer vs commencera

A purely visual mix-up. commencer (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\) and commencera (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁa\) 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 extra letter(s) - “commencer” sits inside “commencera”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commencer is recorded at frequency rank #976, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. commencera is at rank #13,751, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁa\.

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 14727, this pair ranks #395,454 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of commencer vs commencera

Shared letters: cemnor. Private to "commencer": -. Private to "commencera": a.

"commencer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "commencera" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commencer ← ccommencer · cmomencer · comemncer · comencer · commecner · commenccer · commencerr · commencre
  • commencera ← ccommencera · cmomencera · comemncera · comencera · commecnera · commenccera · commencear · commencerra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "commencer" and "commencera" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\ versus \kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "commencer" vs "commencera" - which ranks higher?
"commencer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #976 in our French list, against #13,751 for "commencera". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "commencer" and "commencera" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "commencer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "commencera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #395,454 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "commencer" and "commencera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencées vs commencera". 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 #395,454 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