commèrevscommettreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: commère is a noun, commettre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“commère” is a noun and “commettre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,075
“commère” frequency rank
#6,797
“commettre” frequency rank
52872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature commère commettre
Definition Personne qui est la marraine d’un même enfant, du point de vue du parrain, du père et de mère de l’enfant. Faire tel ou tel acte blâmable.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set commère and commettre apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
commère
9 ch
commettre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: commère is \kɔ.mɛʁ\ while commettre is \kɔ.mɛtʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commère is recorded at frequency rank #46,075, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mɛʁ\. commettre is at rank #6,797, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɛtʁ\.

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 52872, this pair ranks #144,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of commère vs commettre

Shared letters: cemor. Private to "commère": è. Private to "commettre": t.

"commère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "commettre" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commettreccommettre · cmomettre · comemttre · comettre · commetre · commetrte · commetter · commettrre

Frequency comparison

commère#46,075
commettre#6,797

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "commère" and "commettre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "commère" is a noun and "commettre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "commère" or "commettre"?
"commettre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,797 in our French list, against #46,075 for "commère". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering commère vs commettre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “commère”; for a verb, it's “commettre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “commère” 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