Which to use
“commis” is a noun and “commons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,563
- “commis” frequency rank
- #23,806
- “commons” frequency rank
- 26369
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commis | commons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui, dans une administration, une banque ou une maison de commerce, est chargé d’un emploi dont il doit rendre compte. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe commer. |
Where the eye mixes commis and commons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses commis with commons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: commis is \kɔ.mi\ while commons is \kɔ.mɔ̃\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commis is recorded at frequency rank #2,563, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mi\. commons is at rank #23,806, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.mɔ̃\.
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 26369, this pair ranks #335,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commis vs commons
Shared letters: cmos. Private to "commis": i. Private to "commons": n.
"commis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "commons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "commis" and "commons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "commis" vs "commons" - which ranks higher?
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 "commis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #335,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commis" and "commons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "commons vs compos". 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 #335,430 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.