Which to use
“forcées” is an adjective and “fourches” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,146
- “forcées” frequency rank
- #30,163
- “fourches” frequency rank
- 50309
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forcées | fourches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de forcé. | Pluriel de fourche. |
Where the eye mixes forcées and fourches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between forcées and fourches
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forcées is \fɔʁ.se\ while fourches is \fuʁʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forcées is recorded at frequency rank #20,146, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ.se\. fourches is at rank #30,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fuʁʃ\.
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 50309, this pair ranks #163,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of forcées vs fourches
Shared letters: cefors. Private to "forcées": é. Private to "fourches": hu.
"forcées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "fourches" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fourches ← ffourches · foruches · foucrhes · fourcches · fourcehs · fourchess · fourchhes · fourchse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "forcées" and "fourches" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "forcées" or "fourches"?
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 "forcées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fourches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forcées" and "fourches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forcées vs foulées". 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 #163,676 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.