Which to use
“formulés” is an adjective and “foules” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,294
- “formulés” frequency rank
- #13,599
- “foules” frequency rank
- 54893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | formulés | foules |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de formulé. | Pluriel de foule. |
Where the eye mixes formulés and foules
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. formulés runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against foules's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between formulés and foules
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: formulés is \fɔʁ.my.le\ while foules is \ful\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
formulés is recorded at frequency rank #41,294, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ.my.le\. foules is at rank #13,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ful\.
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 54893, this pair ranks #130,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of formulés vs foules
Shared letters: flosu. Private to "formulés": mré. Private to "foules": e.
"formulés" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "foules" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- foules ← ffoules · folues · fouels · fouless · foulles · foulse · fuoles · ofules
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "formulés" for "foules" ever safe?
Frequency check: "formulés" vs "foules" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "formulés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "formulés" and "foules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "formels vs formulés". 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 #130,981 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.