formavsformatéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,654
“forma” frequency rank
#48,537
“formaté” frequency rank
74191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forma formaté
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de former. Participe passé masculin singulier de formater.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
forma
7 ch
formaté

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. forma (\fɔʁ.ma\) and formaté (\fɔʁ.ma.te\) 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 “formaté”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74191, 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\. formaté is at rank #48,537, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.ma.te\.

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 74191, this pair ranks #37,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of forma vs formaté

Shared letters: afmor. Private to "forma": -. Private to "formaté": .

"forma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "formaté" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • formafforma · fomra · foram · formma · forrma · froma · ofrma

Frequency comparison

forma#25,654
formaté#48,537

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forma" and "formaté" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɔʁ.ma\ versus \fɔʁ.ma.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "forma" or "formaté"?
"forma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,654 in our French list, against #48,537 for "formaté". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering forma vs formaté

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “forma” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list