formatsvsforméesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#12,576
“formats” frequency rank
#15,633
“formées” frequency rank
28209
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature formats formées
Definition Pluriel de format. Participe passé féminin pluriel de former.

Where the eye mixes formats and formées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
formats
7 ch
formées

Visual trap between formats and formées

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: formats is \fɔʁ.ma\ while formées is \fɔʁ.me\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

formats is recorded at frequency rank #12,576, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁ.ma\. formées is at rank #15,633, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.me\.

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 28209, this pair ranks #324,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of formats vs formées

Shared letters: fmors. Private to "formats": at. Private to "formées": .

"formats" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "formées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "formats" and "formées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "formats" is a noun and "formées" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "formats" or "formées"?
"formats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,576 in our French list, against #15,633 for "formées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "formats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "formées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #324,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "formats" and "formées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "formater vs formats". 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 #324,252 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list