formevsforumsConfusable pair

Which to use

“forme” and “forums” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#371
“forme” frequency rank
#11,055
“forums” frequency rank
11426
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forme forums
Definition Aspect extérieur, configuration caractéristique ou particulière d’une chose. Pluriel de forum.

Where the eye mixes forme and forums

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
forme
6 ch
forums

Look-alike desk: forme vs forums

A purely visual mix-up. forme (\fɔʁm\) and forums (\fɔ.ʁɔm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forme is recorded at frequency rank #371, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁm\. forums is at rank #11,055, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɔm\.

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 11426, this pair ranks #409,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of forme vs forums

Shared letters: fmor. Private to "forme": e. Private to "forums": su.

"forme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "forums" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • formefforme · fomre · forem · formme · forrme · frome · ofrme
  • forumsfforums · formus · forrums · forumms · forumss · forusm · fourms · froums

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "forme" for "forums" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fɔʁm\ versus \fɔ.ʁɔm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "forme" vs "forums" - which ranks higher?
"forme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #371 in our French list, against #11,055 for "forums". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "forme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "forums" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #409,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forme" and "forums" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fortis vs forums". 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 #409,191 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