Which to use
“formaient” and “formèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,272
- “formaient” frequency rank
- #40,771
- “formèrent” frequency rank
- 63043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | formaient | formèrent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de former. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de former. |
Where the eye mixes formaient and formèrent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: formaient vs formèrent
A purely visual mix-up. formaient (\fɔʁ.mɛ\) and formèrent (\fɔʁ.mɛʁ\) 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 63043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
formaient is recorded at frequency rank #22,272, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.mɛ\. formèrent is at rank #40,771, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.mɛʁ\.
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 63043, this pair ranks #83,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of formaient vs formèrent
Shared letters: efmnort. Private to "formaient": ai. Private to "formèrent": è.
"formaient" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC · "formèrent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- formaient ← fformaient · fomraient · foramient · formaeint · formaiennt · formaientt · formaietn · formainet
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "formaient" and "formèrent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "formaient" vs "formèrent" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "formaient" and "formèrent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "formaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formèrent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "formaient" and "formèrent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondèrent vs formèrent". 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 #83,977 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.