Which to use
“formidable” and “formidables” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,334
- “formidable” frequency rank
- #16,137
- “formidables” frequency rank
- 20471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | formidable | formidables |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fantastique ; extraordinaire. | Pluriel de formidable. |
Same sound, different letters: formidable vs formidables
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - formidable / formidables
This is the hard kind. formidable and formidables are pronounced identically (\fɔʁ.mi.dabl\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “formidable” sits inside “formidables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
formidable is recorded at frequency rank #4,334, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ.mi.dabl\. formidables is at rank #16,137, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ.mi.dabl\.
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 20471, this pair ranks #368,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of formidable vs formidables
Shared letters: abdefilmor. Private to "formidable": -. Private to "formidables": s.
"formidable" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV · "formidables" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- formidable ← fformidable · fomridable · forimdable · formdiable · formiadble · formidabble · formidabel · formidablle
- formidables ← fformidables · fomridables · forimdables · formdiables · formiadbles · formidabbles · formidabels · formidabless
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "formidable" and "formidables" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "formidable" or "formidables"?
Useful next steps
"formidable" and "formidables" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "formidable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "formidables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #368,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #368,110 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.