forgevsformeConfusable pair

Which to use

“forge” and “forme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,389
“forge” frequency rank
#371
“forme” frequency rank
13760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forge forme
Definition Usine dans laquelle la fonte de fer est transformée en métal. Aspect extérieur, configuration caractéristique ou particulière d’une chose.

Where the eye mixes forge and forme

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

5 ch
forge
5 ch
forme

Look-alike desk: forge vs forme

A purely visual mix-up. forge (\fɔʁʒ\) and forme (\fɔʁm\) 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 a single letter - g in “forge” becomes m in “forme”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13760, 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\. forme is at rank #371, 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 13760, this pair ranks #399,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of forge vs forme

Shared letters: efor. Private to "forge": g. Private to "forme": m.

"forge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "forme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forgefforge · fogre · foreg · forgge · forrge · froge · ofrge
  • formefforme · fomre · forem · formme · forrme · frome · ofrme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "forge" for "forme" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fɔʁʒ\ versus \fɔʁm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "forge" or "forme" show up more?
"forme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #371 in our French list, against #13,389 for "forge". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "forge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "forme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #399,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forge" and "forme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fange vs forge". 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 #399,660 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