Which to use
“commences” is a verb and “commerce” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,800
- “commences” frequency rank
- #977
- “commerce” frequency rank
- 10777
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commences | commerce |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de commencer. | Activité qui consiste à acheter et vendre des marchandises, des denrées, des valeurs, des services, etc., en vue de réaliser un profit. |
Where the eye mixes commences and commerce
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses commences with commerce
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: commences is \kɔ.mɑ̃s\ while commerce is \kɔ.mɛʁs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10777, 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\. commerce is at rank #977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɛʁs\.
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 10777, this pair ranks #411,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commences vs commerce
Shared letters: cemo. Private to "commences": ns. Private to "commerce": r.
"commences" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "commerce" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "commences" and "commerce" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "commences" or "commerce"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "commences" and "commerce" 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 "commerce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commences" and "commerce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commencées vs commences". 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 #411,698 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.