commenceraisvscommenceraitWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,513
“commencerais” frequency rank
#37,736
“commencerait” frequency rank
83249
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature commencerais commencerait
Definition Première personne du singulier du conditionnel présent de commencer. Troisième personne du singulier du conditionnel présent de commencer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set commencerais and commencerait apart are highlighted. They share 11 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

12 ch
commencerais
12 ch
commencerait

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. commencerais and commencerait are pronounced identically (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁɛ\) 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 differ by a single letter - s in “commencerais” becomes t in “commencerait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commencerais is recorded at frequency rank #45,513, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁɛ\. commencerait is at rank #37,736, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁɛ\.

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 83249, this pair ranks #15,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of commencerais vs commencerait

Shared letters: aceimnor. Private to "commencerais": s. Private to "commencerait": t.

"commencerais" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVVC  ·  "commencerait" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commenceraisccommencerais · cmomencerais · comemncerais · comencerais · commecnerais · commenccerais · commencearis · commenceraiss
  • commenceraitccommencerait · cmomencerait · comemncerait · comencerait · commecnerait · commenccerait · commencearit · commenceraitt

Frequency comparison

commencerais#45,513
commencerait#37,736

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "commencerais" and "commencerait" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ.mɑ̃.sə.ʁɛ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "commencerais" or "commencerait"?
"commencerait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,736 in our French list, against #45,513 for "commencerais". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering commencerais vs commencerait

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “commencerais” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list