Which to use
“foire” and “forme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,869
- “foire” frequency rank
- #371
- “forme” frequency rank
- 6240
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foire | forme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fête populaire qui a lieu à certaines dates de l’année. | Aspect extérieur, configuration caractéristique ou particulière d’une chose. |
Where the eye mixes foire and forme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: foire vs forme
A purely visual mix-up. foire (\fwaʁ\) and forme (\fɔʁm\) 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 6240, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foire is recorded at frequency rank #5,869, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwaʁ\. forme is at rank #371, 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 6240, this pair ranks #426,769 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of foire vs forme
Shared letters: efor. Private to "foire": i. Private to "forme": m.
"foire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "forme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foire" and "forme" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "foire" or "forme"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #426,769 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foire" and "forme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foins vs foire". 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 #426,769 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.