fontsvsforetsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#39,304
“fonts” frequency rank
#42,347
“forets” frequency rank
81651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fonts forets
Definition Pluriel de font. Pluriel de foret.

Where the eye mixes fonts and forets

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fonts
6 ch
forets

Visual trap between fonts and forets

A purely visual mix-up. fonts (\fɔ̃\) and forets (\fɔ.ʁɛ\) 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 81651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fonts is recorded at frequency rank #39,304, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃\. forets is at rank #42,347, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɛ\.

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 81651, this pair ranks #18,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fonts vs forets

Shared letters: fost. Private to "fonts": n. Private to "forets": er.

"fonts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "forets" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fontsffonts · fnots · fonnts · fonst · fontss · fontts · fotns · ofnts
  • foretsfforets · foerts · foretss · foretts · froets · ofrets

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fonts" and "forets" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɔ̃\ versus \fɔ.ʁɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fonts" vs "forets" - which ranks higher?
"fonts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,304 in our French list, against #42,347 for "forets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fonts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "forets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fonts" and "forets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forets vs fouets". 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 #18,309 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list