Which to use
“format” is a noun and “formaté” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,518
- “format” frequency rank
- #48,537
- “formaté” frequency rank
- 51055
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | format | formaté |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dimensions caractéristiques d’un objet. | Participe passé masculin singulier de formater. |
Where the eye mixes format and formaté
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses format with formaté
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: format is \fɔʁ.ma\ while formaté is \fɔʁ.ma.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “format” sits inside “formaté”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
format is recorded at frequency rank #2,518, classified as anoun, 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 51055, this pair ranks #157,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of format vs formaté
Shared letters: afmort. Private to "format": -. Private to "formaté": é.
"format" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "formaté" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- format ← fformat · fomrat · foramt · formatt · formmat · formta · forrmat · fromat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "format" for "formaté" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "format" or "formaté" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "format" and "formaté" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "format" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formaté" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "format" and "formaté" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "formaté vs formater". 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 #157,932 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.