ferma

\fɛʁ.ma\

/\fɛʁ.ma\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“ferma” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #30,608. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#30,608
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de fermer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ferma · ferma · French

ferma · rank #30,608 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #30,608
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH feignant

Nearest frequency peer: feignant (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « ferma »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « ferma » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ferma vs fra
60% similar
ferma vs fers
60% similar
ferma vs form
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ferma
PropertyValue
Headwordferma
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\fɛʁ.ma\
Letters5
Frequency rank#30,608
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « ferma »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.fermase place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « feignant » (#30,607), « filleul » (#30,609), « false » (#30,605). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « ferma » est au #30,608. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around ferma (IPA \fɛʁ.ma\), averb. Corpus frequency is #30,608 among 3,276 “F” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de fermer.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ferma, with forms such as "efrma", "femra", and "feram". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fra", "fers", "form", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is ferma, spelled F-E-R-M-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de fermer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how ferma appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Mais, lorsque le docteur ferma le robinet, M. Abel comprit qu’il pleuvait toujours au-dehors, que seuls les scialytiques donnaient l’illusion du soleil et que cette fraîcheur douce n’était qu’un froid artificiel.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • efrma
  • femra
  • feram
  • fermma
  • ferrma
  • fferma
  • frema

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ferma - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

efrma2femra2feram2fermma1ferrma1fferma1frema2
Edit distance from "ferma"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ferma"?
"ferma" is spelled F-E-R-M-A. The IPA pronunciation is \fɛʁ.ma\.
What does "ferma" mean?
As a verb, "ferma" means: Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de fermer.
What words are commonly confused with "ferma"?
"ferma" is commonly confused with "fra", "fers", "form". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ferma"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ferma" is \fɛʁ.ma\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ferma" come from?
"ferma" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ferma", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

false#30,605flous#30,613fuyez#30,620guyot#30,635

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

flirte7 variantsharem7 variantsduper7 variantsimpur7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list