fontvsforthWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: font is a noun, forth is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“font” is a noun and “forth” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,611
“font” frequency rank
#3,625
“forth” frequency rank
13236
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature font forth
Definition A receptacle in a church for holy water, especially one used in baptism. Forward in time, place or degree.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set font and forth apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
font
5 ch
forth

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

font and forth form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13236, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

font is recorded at frequency rank #9,611, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɒnt/. forth is at rank #3,625, tagged as anadv, pronounced /fɔːθ/.

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 13236, this pair ranks #476,970 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

font#9,611
forth#3,625

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "font" and "forth" be used interchangeably?
No, "font" and "forth" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering font vs forth

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list