Which to use
“forest” and “formes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,795
- “forest” frequency rank
- #1,626
- “formes” frequency rank
- 15421
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forest | formes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de forêt. | Pluriel de forme. |
Where the eye mixes forest and formes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: forest vs formes
A purely visual mix-up. forest (\fɔ.ʁɛ\) and formes (\fɔʁm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forest is recorded at frequency rank #13,795, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɛ\. formes is at rank #1,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁm\.
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 15421, this pair ranks #392,439 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of forest vs formes
Shared letters: efors. Private to "forest": t. Private to "formes": m.
"forest" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "formes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "forest" for "formes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "forest" vs "formes" - which ranks higher?
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 "forest" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,439 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forest" and "formes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs forest". 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 #392,439 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.