Which to use
“foray” and “forge” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,464
- “foray” frequency rank
- #9,901
- “forge” frequency rank
- 37365
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foray | forge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid. | A furnace or hearth where metals are heated prior to hammering them into shape. |
Where the eye mixes foray and forge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foray with forge
A purely visual mix-up. foray (/ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/) and forge (/fɔːd͡ʒ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foray is recorded at frequency rank #27,464, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/. forge is at rank #9,901, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɔːd͡ʒ/.
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 37365, this pair ranks #295,199 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foray vs forge
Shared letters: for. Private to "foray": ay. Private to "forge": eg.
"foray" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "forge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foray" for "forge" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foray" vs "forge" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "foray" and "forge" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #295,199 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foray" and "forge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fora vs foray". 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 #295,199 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.