recommandevsrecommanderTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,524
“recommande” frequency rank
#11,283
“recommander” frequency rank
15807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recommande recommander
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de recommander. Ordonner à quelqu’un, prier avec instance quelqu’un de faire quelque chose, lui donner à ce sujet des instructions précises.

Where the eye mixes recommande and recommander

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. recommande runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCCV) against recommander's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
recommande
11 ch
recommander

Look-alike desk: recommande vs recommander

A purely visual mix-up. recommande (\ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃d\) and recommander (\ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.de\) 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 extra letter(s) - “recommande” sits inside “recommander”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recommande is recorded at frequency rank #4,524, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃d\. recommander is at rank #11,283, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.de\.

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 15807, this pair ranks #390,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recommande vs recommander

Shared letters: acdemnor. Private to "recommande": -. Private to "recommander": -.

"recommande" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV  ·  "recommander" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recommande ← ercommande · rceommande · reccommande · recmomande · recomamnde · recomande · recommadne · recommandde
  • recommander ← ercommander · rceommander · reccommander · recmomander · recomamnder · recomander · recommadner · recommandder

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recommande" for "recommander" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃d\ versus \ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.de\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recommande" or "recommander"?
"recommande" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,524 in our French list, against #11,283 for "recommander". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recommande" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recommander" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #390,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recommande" and "recommander" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recommandées vs recommander". 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 #390,766 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