formanvsformesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: forman is a verb, formes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“forman” is a verb and “formes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,346
“forman” frequency rank
#1,626
“formes” frequency rank
48972
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forman formes
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de formar. Pluriel de forme.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set forman and formes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
forman
6 ch
formes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forman is \ˈfoɾ.man\ while formes is \fɔʁm\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forman is recorded at frequency rank #47,346, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈfoɾ.man\. formes is at rank #1,626, tagged as anoun, 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 48972, this pair ranks #174,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of forman vs formes

Shared letters: fmor. Private to "forman": an. Private to "formes": es.

"forman" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "formes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • formanfforman · fomran · foramn · formann · formman · formna · forrman · froman
  • formesfformes · fomres · forems · formess · formmes · formse · forrmes · fromes

Frequency comparison

forman#47,346
formes#1,626

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forman" and "formes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forman" is a verb and "formes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "forman" or "formes"?
"formes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,626 in our French list, against #47,346 for "forman". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering forman vs formes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “forman”; for a noun, it's “formes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “forman” 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