Which to use
“commissaire” and “commissaires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,867
- “commissaire” frequency rank
- #9,621
- “commissaires” frequency rank
- 12488
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commissaire | commissaires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui est commis, chargé d’une commission. | Pluriel de commissaire. |
Same sound, different letters: commissaire vs commissaires
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. commissaire runs 11 letters (CVCCVCCVVCV) against commissaires's 12 (CVCCVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - commissaire / commissaires
This is the hard kind. commissaire and commissaires are pronounced identically (\kɔ.mi.sɛʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “commissaire” sits inside “commissaires”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commissaire is recorded at frequency rank #2,867, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mi.sɛʁ\. commissaires is at rank #9,621, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mi.sɛʁ\.
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 12488, this pair ranks #405,067 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commissaire vs commissaires
Shared letters: aceimors. Private to "commissaire": -. Private to "commissaires": -.
"commissaire" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCV · "commissaires" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commissaire ← ccommissaire · cmomissaire · comimssaire · comissaire · commisaire · commisasire · commissaier · commissairre
- commissaires ← ccommissaires · cmomissaires · comimssaires · comissaires · commisaires · commisasires · commissaiers · commissairess
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "commissaire" and "commissaires" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "commissaire" or "commissaires"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "commissaire" / "commissaires". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "commissaire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commissaires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,067 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #405,067 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.