Which to use
“focus” and “forts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,412
- “focus” frequency rank
- #3,075
- “forts” frequency rank
- 14487
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | focus | forts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Concentré sur l’action. | Masculin pluriel de fort |
Where the eye mixes focus and forts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between focus and forts
A purely visual mix-up. focus (\fɔ.kys\) and forts (\fɔʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
focus is recorded at frequency rank #11,412, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔ.kys\. forts is at rank #3,075, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ\.
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 14487, this pair ranks #396,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of focus vs forts
Shared letters: fos. Private to "focus": cu. Private to "forts": rt.
"focus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "forts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "focus" for "forts" ever safe?
Which is more common, "focus" or "forts"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "focus" and "forts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "focus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "focus" and "forts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fichus vs focus". 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 #396,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.