Which to use
“folles” and “fortes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,503
- “folles” frequency rank
- #2,927
- “fortes” frequency rank
- 13430
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | folles | fortes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de fou. | Féminin pluriel de fort. |
Where the eye mixes folles and fortes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: folles vs fortes
A purely visual mix-up. folles (\fɔl\) and fortes (\fɔʁt\) 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 13430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
folles is recorded at frequency rank #10,503, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔl\. fortes is at rank #2,927, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁt\.
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 13430, this pair ranks #401,067 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of folles vs fortes
Shared letters: efos. Private to "folles": l. Private to "fortes": rt.
"folles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fortes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "folles" for "fortes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "folles" or "fortes"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "folles" and "fortes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "folles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fortes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,067 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "folles" and "fortes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs folles". 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 #401,067 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.