Which to use
“commun” and “communes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,022
- “commun” frequency rank
- #1,556
- “communes” frequency rank
- 2578
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | commun | communes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui sert, qui peut servir à tout le monde ou seulement à plusieurs personnes. | Féminin pluriel de commun. |
Where the eye mixes commun and communes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses commun with communes
A purely visual mix-up. commun (\kɔ.mœ̃\) and communes (\kɔ.myn\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “commun” sits inside “communes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
commun is recorded at frequency rank #1,022, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.mœ̃\. communes is at rank #1,556, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.myn\.
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 2578, this pair ranks #435,868 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of commun vs communes
Shared letters: cmnou. Private to "commun": -. Private to "communes": es.
"commun" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "communes" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "commun" and "communes" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "commun" vs "communes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "commun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "communes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,868 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "commun" and "communes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "communes vs communier". 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 #435,868 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.