Which to use
“commère” and “compères” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,075
- “commère” frequency rank
- #29,701
- “compères” frequency rank
- 75776
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commère | compères |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui est la marraine d’un même enfant, du point de vue du parrain, du père et de mère de l’enfant. | Pluriel de compère. |
Where the eye mixes commère and compères
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. commère runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against compères's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: commère vs compères
A purely visual mix-up. commère (\kɔ.mɛʁ\) and compères (\kɔ̃.pɛʁ\) 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 75776, 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\. compères is at rank #29,701, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.pɛʁ\.
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 75776, this pair ranks #33,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of commère vs compères
Shared letters: cemorè. Private to "commère": -. Private to "compères": ps.
"commère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "compères" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "commère" and "compères" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "commère" or "compères"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "commère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "compères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commère" and "compères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commercer vs commère". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #33,043 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.