fongvsforgoTell them apart

Quick tell: fong is a noun, forgo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fong” is a noun and “forgo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,923
“fong” frequency rank
#29,282
“forgo” frequency rank
58205
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fong forgo
Definition A kick. To do without (something enjoyable); to relinquish.

Letter map: fong vs forgo

Shared letters muted; letters that set fong and forgo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. fong runs 4 letters (CVCC) against forgo's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
fong
5 ch
forgo

Grammar separator: fong vs forgo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fong is anoun and forgoaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58205, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fong is recorded at frequency rank #28,923, classified as anoun. forgo is at rank #29,282, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɔːˈɡəʊ/.

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 58205, this pair ranks #114,121 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fong vs forgo

Shared letters: fgo. Private to "fong": n. Private to "forgo": r.

"fong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "forgo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fong ← ffong · fnog · fogn · fongg · fonng · ofng
  • forgo ← fforgo · fogro · forggo · forog · forrgo · frogo · ofrgo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fong" and "forgo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fong" is a noun and "forgo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fong" or "forgo"?
"fong" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,923 in our English list, against #29,282 for "forgo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fong" and "forgo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "fong" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "forgo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,121 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fong" and "forgo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FOMO vs forgo". 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 #114,121 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list