Which to use
“common” and “commun” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,141
- “common” frequency rank
- #1,022
- “commun” frequency rank
- 24163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | common | commun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Commun. | Qui sert, qui peut servir à tout le monde ou seulement à plusieurs personnes. |
Where the eye mixes common and commun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses common with commun
A purely visual mix-up. common (\ˈkɑ.mən\) and commun (\kɔ.mœ̃\) 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 a single letter - o in “common” becomes u in “commun”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
common is recorded at frequency rank #23,141, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈkɑ.mən\. commun is at rank #1,022, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.mœ̃\.
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 24163, this pair ranks #348,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of common vs commun
Shared letters: cmno. Private to "common": -. Private to "commun": u.
"common" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "commun" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "common" for "commun" ever safe?
Which is more common, "common" or "commun"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "common" and "commun" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "common" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #348,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "common" and "commun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "common vs coon". 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 #348,213 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.