formatévsformatsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#48,537
“formaté” frequency rank
#12,576
“formats” frequency rank
61113
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature formaté formats
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de formater. Pluriel de format.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set formaté and formats apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
formaté
7 ch
formats

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: formaté is \fɔʁ.ma.te\ while formats is \fɔʁ.ma\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - é in “formaté” becomes s in “formats”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

formaté is recorded at frequency rank #48,537, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.ma.te\. formats is at rank #12,576, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁ.ma\.

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 61113, this pair ranks #94,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of formaté vs formats

Shared letters: afmort. Private to "formaté": é. Private to "formats": s.

"formaté" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "formats" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • formatsfformats · fomrats · foramts · formast · formatss · formatts · formmats · formtas

Frequency comparison

formaté#48,537
formats#12,576

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "formaté" and "formats" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "formaté" is a verb and "formats" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "formaté" or "formats"?
"formats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,576 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 formaté vs formats

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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