formidable

\fɔʁ.mi.dabl\

/\fɔʁ.mi.dabl\/ adj

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

The verdict

“formidable” has 15 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,334. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,334
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
15
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fantastique ; extraordinaire.

Corpus desk

Index FR-formidable · formidable · French

formidable · rank #4,334 · 15 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,334
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH forfait

Nearest frequency peer: forfait (-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 « formidable »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « formidable » 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).

formidable vs formidables
91% similar

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

Key facts for formidable
PropertyValue
Headwordformidable
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\fɔʁ.mi.dabl\
Letters10
Frequency rank#4,334
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « formidable »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).formidablese 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 « forfait » (#4,333), « fraude » (#4,335), « fatigue » (#4,332). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « formidable » est au #4,334. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around formidable (IPA \fɔʁ.mi.dabl\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #4,334 among 3,276 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for formidable, with forms such as "fformidable", "fomridable", and "forimdable". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "formidables", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is formidable, spelled F-O-R-M-I-D-A-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fantastique ; extraordinaire.
  2. 2
    Qui inspire ou qui est de nature à inspirer une très grande crainte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ce sol gras, dans lequel les fossoyeurs ne pouvaient plus donner un coup de bêche sans arracher quelque lambeau humain, eut une fertilité formidable.
  2. […] : les Bourses de commerce devenaient des établissements de spéculation éhontée et formidable auprès desquels le vieux bon jeu où l'on cartonne apparaissait vraiment comme une niaiserie.

This word in other languages

awesome(English)formidable(Español)toll(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • fformidable
  • fomridable
  • forimdable
  • formdiable
  • formiadble
  • formidabble
  • formidabel
  • formidablle
  • formidalbe
  • formidbale
  • formiddable
  • formmidable
  • forrmidable
  • fromidable
  • ofrmidable

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

fformidable1fomridable2forimdable2formdiable2formiadble2formidabble1formidabel2formidablle1
Edit distance from "formidable"

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 "formidable"?
"formidable" is spelled F-O-R-M-I-D-A-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fɔʁ.mi.dabl\.
What does "formidable" mean?
As an adjective, "formidable" means: Fantastique ; extraordinaire.
What words are commonly confused with "formidable"?
"formidable" is commonly confused with "formidables". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "formidable"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "formidable" is \fɔʁ.mi.dabl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "formidable" come from?
"formidable" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "formidable", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

expédition#4,330inférieure#4,338inspecteur#4,339intentions#4,340

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

permanente15 variantsélectorale15 variantsutilisateur15 variantsretrouvent15 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list