Which to use
“commences” and “commençons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,800
- “commences” frequency rank
- #13,546
- “commençons” frequency rank
- 23346
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commences | commençons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de commencer. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de commencer. |
Where the eye mixes commences and commençons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between commences and commençons
A purely visual mix-up. commences (\kɔ.mɑ̃s\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commences is recorded at frequency rank #9,800, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɑ̃s\. 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 23346, this pair ranks #353,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commences vs commençons
Shared letters: cemnos. Private to "commences": -. Private to "commençons": ç.
"commences" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "commençons" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commences ← ccommences · cmomences · comemnces · comences · commecnes · commencces · commencess · commencse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "commences" and "commençons" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "commences" or "commençons"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "commences" and "commençons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "commences" 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 #353,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commences" and "commençons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencées vs commençons". 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 #353,037 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.