Which to use
“forêt” and “free” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,078
- “forêt” frequency rank
- #3,537
- “free” frequency rank
- 5615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forêt | free |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vaste terrain couvert de bois, de nombreux arbres proches. | Teuf, fête gratuite. |
Where the eye mixes forêt and free
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses forêt with free
A purely visual mix-up. forêt (\fɔ.ʁɛ\) and free (\fʁi\) 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 5615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forêt is recorded at frequency rank #2,078, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɛ\. free is at rank #3,537, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁi\.
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 5615, this pair ranks #428,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of forêt vs free
Shared letters: fr. Private to "forêt": otê. Private to "free": e.
"forêt" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "free" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- free ← fere · ffree · fre · frree · rfee
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "forêt" and "free" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "forêt" vs "free" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "forêt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "free" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forêt" and "free" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs free". 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 #428,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.