formalise

\fɔʁ.ma.liz\

/\fɔʁ.ma.liz\/ verb

The verdict

“formalise” is uncommon French (frequency #57,279 among 3,276 “F” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,279
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de formaliser.

Corpus desk

Index FR-formalise · formalise · French

formalise · rank #57,279 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,279
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH forcerait

Nearest frequency peer: forcerait (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « formalise »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « formalise » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for formalise
PropertyValue
Headwordformalise
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\fɔʁ.ma.liz\
Letters9
Frequency rank#57,279
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « formalise » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).formalisetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « forcerait » (#57,278), « fournissons » (#57,280), « foraines » (#57,277). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « formalise » est au #57,279. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

formalise is uncommon French at frequency #57,279 among 3,276 “F” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \fɔʁ.ma.liz\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

formalise has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is formalise, spelled F-O-R-M-A-L-I-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de formaliser.
  2. 2
    Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de formaliser.
  3. 3
    Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de formaliser.
  4. 4
    Troisième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de formaliser.
  5. 5
    Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif de formaliser.

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 "formalise"?
"formalise" is spelled F-O-R-M-A-L-I-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fɔʁ.ma.liz\.
What does "formalise" mean?
As a verb, "formalise" means: Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de formaliser.
How do you pronounce "formalise"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "formalise" is \fɔʁ.ma.liz\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "formalise" come from?
"formalise" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "formalise", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list