Which to use
“recommander” and “recommencer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,283
- “recommander” frequency rank
- #6,432
- “recommencer” frequency rank
- 17715
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recommander | recommencer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ordonner à quelqu’un, prier avec instance quelqu’un de faire quelque chose, lui donner à ce sujet des instructions précises. | Commencer de nouveau à faire ce qu’on a déjà fait, commencer deux fois quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes recommander and recommencer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. recommander and recommencer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between recommander and recommencer
A purely visual mix-up. recommander (\ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.de\) and recommencer (\ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recommander is recorded at frequency rank #11,283, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.de\. recommencer is at rank #6,432, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se\.
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 17715, this pair ranks #381,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recommander vs recommencer
Shared letters: cemnor. Private to "recommander": ad. Private to "recommencer": -.
"recommander" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC · "recommencer" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recommander ← ercommander · rceommander · reccommander · recmomander · recomamnder · recomander · recommadner · recommandder
- recommencer ← ercommencer · rceommencer · reccommencer · recmomencer · recomemncer · recomencer · recommecner · recommenccer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "recommander" for "recommencer" ever safe?
Which is more common, "recommander" or "recommencer"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recommander" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recommencer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #381,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recommander" and "recommencer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recommencer vs recommencera". 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 #381,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.