fortis vs frottis, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“fortis” is an adjective and “frottis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,179
“fortis” frequency rank: #43,954
“frottis” frequency rank: 90133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fortis	frottis
Definition	Fort, robuste, solide, vigoureux, bien portant.	Synonyme de frottement.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fortis and frottis apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

fortis

7 ch

frottis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fortis is anadjective and frottisanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fortis is recorded at frequency rank #46,179, classified as anadj. frottis is at rank #43,954, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁɔ.ti\.

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 90133, this pair ranks #5,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fortis vs frottis

Shared letters: fiorst. Private to "fortis": -. Private to "frottis": -.

"fortis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "frottis" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

fortis ← ffortis · forits · forrtis · fortiss · fortsi · fotris · ofrtis
frottis ← ffrottis · forttis · frotis · frotits · frottiss · frottsi · frrottis · frtotis

Frequency comparison

fortis#46,179

frottis#43,954

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fortis" and "frottis" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fortis" is an adjective and "frottis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fortis" or "frottis"?

"frottis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,954 in our French list, against #46,179 for "fortis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fortis vs frottis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “fortis”; for a noun, it's “frottis”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fortis” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable