Which to use
“forbade” and “forgave” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,840
- “forbade” frequency rank
- #27,466
- “forgave” frequency rank
- 55306
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forbade | forgave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of forbid | simple past of forgive |
Where the eye mixes forbade and forgave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. forbade and forgave follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between forbade and forgave
A purely visual mix-up. forbade (/fə(ɹ)ˈbæd/) and forgave (/fə(ɹ)ˈɡeɪv/) 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 55306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forbade is recorded at frequency rank #27,840, classified as averb, pronounced /fə(ɹ)ˈbæd/. forgave is at rank #27,466, tagged as averb, pronounced /fə(ɹ)ˈɡeɪv/.
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 55306, this pair ranks #134,630 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of forbade vs forgave
Shared letters: aefor. Private to "forbade": bd. Private to "forgave": gv.
"forbade" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "forgave" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "forbade" for "forgave" ever safe?
Frequency check: "forbade" vs "forgave" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "forbade" and "forgave" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "forbade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forgave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #134,630 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forbade" and "forgave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forbade vs forsake". 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 #134,630 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.