forcéevsforcerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: forcée is a adjective, forcer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“forcée” is an adjective and “forcer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,246
“forcée” frequency rank
#3,921
“forcer” frequency rank
12167
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forcée forcer
Definition Féminin singulier de forcé. Briser, rompre, ouvrir quelque chose avec violence.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set forcée and forcer apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
forcée
6 ch
forcer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: forcée and forcer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fɔʁ.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forcée is recorded at frequency rank #8,246, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ.se\. forcer is at rank #3,921, 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 12167, this pair ranks #406,322 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of forcée vs forcer

Shared letters: cefor. Private to "forcée": é. Private to "forcer": -.

"forcée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "forcer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forcerfforcer · focrer · forccer · forcerr · forcre · forecr · forrcer · frocer

Frequency comparison

forcée#8,246
forcer#3,921

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forcée" and "forcer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forcée" is an adjective and "forcer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "forcée" or "forcer"?
"forcer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,921 in our French list, against #8,246 for "forcée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering forcée vs forcer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “forcée”; for a verb, it's “forcer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “forcée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list