forfaitvsfortuitWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: forfait is a noun, fortuit is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“forfait” is a noun and “fortuit” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,333
“forfait” frequency rank
#44,465
“fortuit” frequency rank
48798
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forfait fortuit
Definition Crime commis avec audace. Qui arrive ou qu’on croit arriver par hasard, d’une manière imprévue.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set forfait and fortuit apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
forfait
7 ch
fortuit

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forfait is \fɔʁ.fɛ\ while fortuit is \fɔʁ.tɥi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forfait is recorded at frequency rank #4,333, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁ.fɛ\. fortuit is at rank #44,465, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ.tɥi\.

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 48798, this pair ranks #175,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of forfait vs fortuit

Shared letters: fiort. Private to "forfait": a. Private to "fortuit": u.

"forfait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "fortuit" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forfaitfforfait · fofrait · forafit · forfaitt · forfati · forffait · forfiat · forrfait
  • fortuitffortuit · forrtuit · fortiut · forttuit · fortuitt · fortuti · forutit · fotruit

Frequency comparison

forfait#4,333
fortuit#44,465

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forfait" and "fortuit" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forfait" is a noun and "fortuit" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "forfait" or "fortuit"?
"forfait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,333 in our French list, against #44,465 for "fortuit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering forfait vs fortuit

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “forfait”; for an adjective, it's “fortuit”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “forfait” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list