forgevsformaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#13,389
“forge” frequency rank
#25,654
“forma” frequency rank
39043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forge forma
Definition Usine dans laquelle la fonte de fer est transformée en métal. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de former.

Where the eye mixes forge and forma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
forge
5 ch
forma

Look-alike desk: forge vs forma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forge is \fɔʁʒ\ while forma is \fɔʁ.ma\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forge is recorded at frequency rank #13,389, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁʒ\. forma is at rank #25,654, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.ma\.

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 39043, this pair ranks #250,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of forge vs forma

Shared letters: for. Private to "forge": eg. Private to "forma": am.

"forge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "forma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forgefforge · fogre · foreg · forgge · forrge · froge · ofrge
  • formafforma · fomra · foram · formma · forrma · froma · ofrma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "forge" for "forma" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forge" is a noun and "forma" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "forge" or "forma" show up more?
"forge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,389 in our French list, against #25,654 for "forma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "forge" and "forma" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "forge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "forma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #250,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forge" and "forma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forma vs formaté". 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 #250,926 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