Which to use
“commencer” and “commenter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #976
- “commencer” frequency rank
- #7,167
- “commenter” frequency rank
- 8143
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commencer | commenter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Engager une action, entreprendre une tâche, donner à une chose un commencement d’existence. | Interpréter par un commentaire, par des commentaires. |
Where the eye mixes commencer and commenter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses commencer with commenter
A purely visual mix-up. commencer (\kɔ.mɑ̃.se\) and commenter (\kɔ.mɑ̃.te\) 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 a single letter - c in “commencer” becomes t in “commenter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8143, 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\. commenter is at rank #7,167, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.te\.
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 8143, this pair ranks #420,979 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commencer vs commenter
Shared letters: cemnor. Private to "commencer": -. Private to "commenter": t.
"commencer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "commenter" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "commencer" and "commenter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "commencer" vs "commenter" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "commencer" and "commenter" 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 "commenter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,979 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commencer" and "commenter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commenter vs communier". 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 #420,979 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.