formavsyearTell them apart

Quick tell: forma is a verb, year is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“forma” is a verb and “year” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,495
“forma” frequency rank
#13,524
“year” frequency rank
56019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forma year
Definition Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs formar (unabhängig von Person und Numerus) eine Dauer von 365 Tagen; Jahr

Letter map: forma vs year

Shared letters muted; letters that set forma and year apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. forma runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against year's 4 (VVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
forma
4 ch
year

Grammar separator: forma vs year

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: forma is averb and yearanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forma is recorded at frequency rank #42,495, classified as averb, pronounced […]. year is at rank #13,524, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 56019, this pair ranks #956,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of forma vs year

Shared letters: ar. Private to "forma": fmo. Private to "year": ey.

"forma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "year" · 4 letters · shape VVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forma ← fforma · fomra · foram · formma · forrma · froma · ofrma
  • year ← eyar · yaer · yearr · yera · yyear

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forma" and "year" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forma" is a verb and "year" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "forma" vs "year" - which ranks higher?
"year" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,524 in our German list, against #42,495 for "forma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "forma" and "year". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "forma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "year" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #956,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forma" and "year" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forma vs puzzles". 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 #956,775 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list