Which to use
“forment” and “formèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,149
- “forment” frequency rank
- #40,771
- “formèrent” frequency rank
- 44920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forment | formèrent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de former. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de former. |
Where the eye mixes forment and formèrent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. forment runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against formèrent's 9 (CVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses forment with formèrent
A purely visual mix-up. forment (\fɔʁm\) and formèrent (\fɔʁ.mɛʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forment is recorded at frequency rank #4,149, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔʁm\. formèrent is at rank #40,771, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔʁ.mɛʁ\.
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 44920, this pair ranks #206,802 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of forment vs formèrent
Shared letters: efmnort. Private to "forment": -. Private to "formèrent": è.
"forment" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "formèrent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- forment ← fforment · fomrent · foremnt · formennt · formentt · formetn · formment · formnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "forment" for "formèrent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "forment" or "formèrent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "forment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formèrent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #206,802 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forment" and "formèrent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondèrent vs formèrent". 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 #206,802 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.