forezvsformesTell them apart

Quick tell: forez is a verb, formes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“forez” is a verb and “formes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,822
“forez” frequency rank
#1,626
“formes” frequency rank
34448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forez formes
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de forer. Pluriel de forme.

Where the eye mixes forez and formes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
forez
6 ch
formes

Why the eye confuses forez with formes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forez is \fɔ.ʁe\ while formes is \fɔʁm\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forez is recorded at frequency rank #32,822, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔ.ʁe\. 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 34448, this pair ranks #283,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of forez vs formes

Shared letters: efor. Private to "forez": z. Private to "formes": ms.

"forez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "formes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forezfforez · foerz · forezz · forrez · forze · froez
  • formesfformes · fomres · forems · formess · formmes · formse · forrmes · fromes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forez" and "formes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forez" is a verb and "formes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "forez" or "formes" show up more?
"formes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,626 in our French list, against #32,822 for "forez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "forez" 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 #283,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forez" and "formes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs forez". 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 #283,750 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list