Which to use
“foray” is a noun and “forth” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,464
- “foray” frequency rank
- #3,625
- “forth” frequency rank
- 31089
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foray | forth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid. | Forward in time, place or degree. |
Where the eye mixes foray and forth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foray with forth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foray is /ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/ while forth is /fɔːθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31089, 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/. 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 31089, this pair ranks #349,100 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foray vs forth
Shared letters: for. Private to "foray": ay. Private to "forth": ht.
"foray" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "forth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foray" for "forth" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foray" vs "forth" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "foray" and "forth" 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 "forth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,100 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foray" and "forth" 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 #349,100 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.