consolervsconsommerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,936
“consoler” frequency rank
#6,800
“consommer” frequency rank
19736
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature consoler consommer
Definition Soulager quelqu’un dans son affliction par des discours, par des soins, ou de quelque autre manière que ce soit. Faire usage de quelque chose, utiliser.

Where the eye mixes consoler and consommer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
consoler
9 ch
consommer

Why the eye confuses consoler with consommer

A purely visual mix-up. consoler (\kɔ̃.sɔ.le\) and consommer (\kɔ̃.sɔ.me\) 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 19736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

consoler is recorded at frequency rank #12,936, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.sɔ.le\. consommer is at rank #6,800, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.sɔ.me\.

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 19736, this pair ranks #371,822 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of consoler vs consommer

Shared letters: cenors. Private to "consoler": l. Private to "consommer": m.

"consoler" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "consommer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • consolercconsoler · cnosoler · connsoler · conosler · consloer · consoelr · consolerr · consoller
  • consommercconsommer · cnosommer · connsommer · conosmmer · consmomer · consomemr · consomer · consommerr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "consoler" for "consommer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.sɔ.le\ versus \kɔ̃.sɔ.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "consoler" or "consommer"?
"consommer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,800 in our French list, against #12,936 for "consoler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "consoler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "consommer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #371,822 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "consoler" and "consommer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congeler vs consoler". 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 #371,822 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