Which to use
“foncée” is a noun and “forcez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,943
- “foncée” frequency rank
- #30,162
- “forcez” frequency rank
- 52105
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foncée | forcez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gradin dans les carrières d’ardoise. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de forcer. |
Where the eye mixes foncée and forcez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. foncée (CVCCVV) and forcez (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses foncée with forcez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foncée is \fɔ̃.se\ while forcez is \fɔʁ.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foncée is recorded at frequency rank #21,943, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.se\. forcez is at rank #30,162, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.se\.
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 52105, this pair ranks #150,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foncée vs forcez
Shared letters: cefo. Private to "foncée": né. Private to "forcez": rz.
"foncée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "forcez" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- forcez ← fforcez · focrez · forccez · forcezz · forcze · forecz · forrcez · frocez
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foncée" for "forcez" ever safe?
Which is more common, "foncée" or "forcez"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "foncée" and "forcez" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foncée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forcez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foncée" and "forcez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forceps vs forcez". 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 #150,138 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.