Which to use
“fort” and “forts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #380
- “fort” frequency rank
- #3,075
- “forts” frequency rank
- 3455
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fort | forts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Costaud, robuste, vigoureux. | Masculin pluriel de fort |
Same sound, different letters: fort vs forts
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
This is the hard kind. fort and forts are pronounced identically (\fɔʁ\) 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) - “fort” sits inside “forts”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fort is recorded at frequency rank #380, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ\. forts is at rank #3,075, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ\.
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 3455, this pair ranks #433,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fort vs forts
Shared letters: fort. Private to "fort": -. Private to "forts": s.
"fort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "forts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fort" and "forts" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fort" or "forts"?
What to do next
You've compared "fort" and "forts". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "fort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fort" and "forts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forts vs fouets". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.