forgetvsformatTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,629
“forget” frequency rank
#2,518
“format” frequency rank
24147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forget format
Definition Partie en débord d’une toiture. Dimensions caractéristiques d’un objet.

Where the eye mixes forget and format

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

6 ch
forget
6 ch
format

Why the eye confuses forget with format

A purely visual mix-up. forget (\fɔʁ.ʒɛ\) and format (\fɔʁ.ma\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forget is recorded at frequency rank #21,629, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁ.ʒɛ\. format is at rank #2,518, tagged as anoun, 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 24147, this pair ranks #348,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of forget vs format

Shared letters: fort. Private to "forget": eg. Private to "format": am.

"forget" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "format" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forgetfforget · fogret · foregt · forgett · forgget · forgte · forrget · froget
  • formatfformat · fomrat · foramt · formatt · formmat · formta · forrmat · fromat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "forget" and "format" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fɔʁ.ʒɛ\ versus \fɔʁ.ma\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "forget" vs "format" - which ranks higher?
"format" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,518 in our French list, against #21,629 for "forget". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "forget" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "format" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #348,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forget" and "format" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ferret vs forget". 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 #348,306 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