Which to use
“commission” and “compassion” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #766
- “commission” frequency rank
- #8,521
- “compassion” frequency rank
- 9287
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commission | compassion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mandat, charge que l’on donne à quelqu’un de faire quelque chose. | Sentiment qui nous fait partager la souffrance d’autrui (par intuition ou connaissance de cette souffrance-là). |
Where the eye mixes commission and compassion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between commission and compassion
A purely visual mix-up. commission (\kɔ.mi.sjɔ̃\) and compassion (\kɔ̃.pɑ.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commission is recorded at frequency rank #766, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.mi.sjɔ̃\. compassion is at rank #8,521, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.pɑ.sjɔ̃\.
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 9287, this pair ranks #417,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commission vs compassion
Shared letters: cimnos. Private to "commission": -. Private to "compassion": ap.
"commission" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "compassion" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- commission ← ccommission · cmomission · comimssion · comission · commision · commisison · commissino · commissionn
- compassion ← ccompassion · cmopassion · comapssion · commpassion · compasion · compasison · compassino · compassionn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "commission" and "compassion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "commission" or "compassion" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "commission" and "compassion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "commission" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "compassion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commission" and "compassion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compassion vs compression". 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 #417,183 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.