Which to use
“formait” and “forment” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,865
- “formait” frequency rank
- #4,149
- “forment” frequency rank
- 27014
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | formait | forment |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de former. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de former. |
Where the eye mixes formait and forment
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses formait with forment
A purely visual mix-up. formait (\fɔʁ.mɛ\) and forment (\fɔʁm\) 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 27014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
formait is recorded at frequency rank #22,865, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.mɛ\. forment is at rank #4,149, tagged as averb, 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 27014, this pair ranks #331,533 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of formait vs forment
Shared letters: fmort. Private to "formait": ai. Private to "forment": en.
"formait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "forment" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "formait" for "forment" ever safe?
Which is more common, "formait" or "forment"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "formait" and "forment" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "formait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #331,533 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "formait" and "forment" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "formait 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 #331,533 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.