forméevsformuleWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,959
“formée” frequency rank
#2,042
“formule” frequency rank
9001
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature formée formule
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de former. Expression rigoureuse et condensée en termes qui définissent une idée, une doctrine, une croyance, un sophisme, une opération, un ensemble d’opérations.

Where the eye mixes formée and formule

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

6 ch
formée
7 ch
formule

Why the eye confuses formée with formule

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: formée is \fɔʁ.me\ while formule is \fɔʁ.myl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

formée is recorded at frequency rank #6,959, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.me\. formule is at rank #2,042, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁ.myl\.

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 9001, this pair ranks #418,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of formée vs formule

Shared letters: efmor. Private to "formée": é. Private to "formule": lu.

"formée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "formule" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • formulefformule · fomrule · formlue · formmule · formuel · formulle · forrmule · forumle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "formée" for "formule" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "formée" is a verb and "formule" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "formée" vs "formule" - which ranks higher?
"formule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,042 in our French list, against #6,959 for "formée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "formée" and "formule" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "formée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "formule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #418,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "formée" and "formule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "formaté vs formée". 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 #418,139 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