Which to use
“fermait” and “formait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,960
- “fermait” frequency rank
- #22,865
- “formait” frequency rank
- 54825
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fermait | formait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de fermer. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de former. |
Where the eye mixes fermait and formait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fermait and formait
A purely visual mix-up. fermait (\fɛʁ.mɛ\) and formait (\fɔʁ.mɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “fermait” becomes o in “formait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fermait is recorded at frequency rank #31,960, classified as averb, pronounced \fɛʁ.mɛ\. formait is at rank #22,865, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.mɛ\.
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 54825, this pair ranks #131,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fermait vs formait
Shared letters: afimrt. Private to "fermait": e. Private to "formait": o.
"fermait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "formait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fermait" and "formait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fermait" or "formait" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fermait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #131,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fermait" and "formait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fermait vs filmait". 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 #131,423 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.