foies vs formes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“foies” and “formes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,901
“foies” frequency rank: #1,626
“formes” frequency rank: 49527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	foies	formes
Definition	Pluriel de foie.	Pluriel de forme.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set foies and formes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

foies

6 ch

formes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. foies (\fwa\) and formes (\fɔʁm\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foies is recorded at frequency rank #47,901, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwa\. formes is at rank #1,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁm\.

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 49527, this pair ranks #169,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foies vs formes

Shared letters: efos. Private to "foies": i. Private to "formes": mr.

"foies" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "formes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

foies ← ffoies · fioes · foeis · foiess · foise · ofies
formes ← fformes · fomres · forems · formess · formmes · formse · forrmes · fromes

Frequency comparison

foies#47,901

formes#1,626

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foies" and "formes" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\fwa\ versus \fɔʁm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "foies" or "formes"?

"formes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,626 in our French list, against #47,901 for "foies". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering foies vs formes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “foies” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable