Which to use
“foes” and “forest” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,472
- “foes” frequency rank
- #2,043
- “forest” frequency rank
- 18515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foes | forest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of foe | A dense uncultivated tract of trees and undergrowth, larger than woods. |
Where the eye mixes foes and forest
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: foes vs forest
A purely visual mix-up. foes (/fəʊz/) and forest (/ˈfɒɹɪst/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foes is recorded at frequency rank #16,472, classified as anoun, pronounced /fəʊz/. forest is at rank #2,043, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɒɹɪst/.
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 18515, this pair ranks #444,375 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of foes vs forest
Shared letters: efos. Private to "foes": -. Private to "forest": rt.
"foes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "forest" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foes" for "forest" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "foes" or "forest" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "foes" and "forest" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #444,375 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foes" and "forest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foes vs FOMO". 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 #444,375 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.