region of their compressive force transmission surfaces the manner how a formwork tie in accordance with fig1 and 2 can be connected to a formwork in accordance with fig2 will be described with reference to fig3 a c and fig4 a c explained in the following fig3 a 4 c each show a section through formwork elements 16 17 in accordance with fig2 as well as through the corresponding elements of the formwork tie in each case including a plan view of the housings 4 5 of the locking elements 2 3 in the direction of the arrows a respective plan views of the housings 5 are shown in fig3 a c and respective plan views of the housings 4 are shown in fig4 a c in accordance with fig3 a the locking element 3 fig1 is taken up at its housing 5 and introduced with the thread sleeve 12 at the front into the tie hole 18 which is formed in the formwork elements 17 during this introduction at which position the thread sleeve 12 displaceable in the bolt hole 14 is located in said bolt hole 14 it is not important the thread sleeve 12 can for example be located in the upper region of the bolt hole 14 as is shown in fig3 a if the thread sleeve 12 is now pushed so far into the tie hole 18 that the coupling element 10 would abut the undercut 24 the housing 5 must be raised relative to the thread sleeve 12 such that the thread sleeve 12 moves downwardly inside the bolt hole 14 it is achieved by this movement due to the curvature of the bolt hole 14 that the coupling element 10 moves in the direction of the arrow b in accordance.