Which to use
“forces” is a noun and “forts” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #921
- “forces” frequency rank
- #3,075
- “forts” frequency rank
- 3996
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forces | forts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorte de grands ciseaux dont les lames sont réunies par un arc d’acier élastique les maintenant ouvertes, et qui servaient à couper des étoffes, à les tailler, à couper des feuilles de laiton, de fer-blanc, à tondre la laine des moutons, etc. | Masculin pluriel de fort |
Where the eye mixes forces and forts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: forces vs forts
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forces is \fɔʁs\ while forts is \fɔʁ\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forces is recorded at frequency rank #921, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁs\. forts is at rank #3,075, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ\.
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 3996, this pair ranks #432,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of forces vs forts
Shared letters: fors. Private to "forces": ce. Private to "forts": t.
"forces" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "forts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "forces" for "forts" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "forces" or "forts" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "forces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forces" and "forts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forts 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 #432,705 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.