concernevsconfèreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“concerne” and “confère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,252
“concerne” frequency rank
#11,938
“confère” frequency rank
13190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concerne confère
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de concerner. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de conférer.

Where the eye mixes concerne and confère

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. concerne runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against confère's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
concerne
7 ch
confère

Visual trap between concerne and confère

A purely visual mix-up. concerne (\kɔ̃.sɛʁn\) and confère (\kɔ̃.fɛʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concerne is recorded at frequency rank #1,252, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.sɛʁn\. confère is at rank #11,938, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.fɛʁ\.

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 13190, this pair ranks #402,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of concerne vs confère

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "concerne": -. Private to "confère": .

"concerne" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "confère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • concernecconcerne · cnocerne · cocnerne · conccerne · concenre · conceren · concernne · concerrne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "concerne" and "confère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.sɛʁn\ versus \kɔ̃.fɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "concerne" or "confère"?
"concerne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,252 in our French list, against #11,938 for "confère". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "concerne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "confère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #402,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concerne" and "confère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "confère vs convers". 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 #402,060 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list