Which to use
“forma” and “formait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,654
- “forma” frequency rank
- #22,865
- “formait” frequency rank
- 48519
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forma | formait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de former. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de former. |
Where the eye mixes forma and formait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: forma vs formait
A purely visual mix-up. forma (\fɔʁ.ma\) and formait (\fɔʁ.mɛ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “forma” sits inside “formait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forma is recorded at frequency rank #25,654, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.ma\. formait is at rank #22,865, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.mɛ\.
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 48519, this pair ranks #178,272 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of forma vs formait
Shared letters: afmor. Private to "forma": -. Private to "formait": it.
"forma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "formait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "forma" and "formait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "forma" vs "formait" - which ranks higher?
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 "forma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #178,272 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forma" and "formait" 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 #178,272 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.