Which to use
“ford” is a noun and “forth” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,996
- “ford” frequency rank
- #3,625
- “forth” frequency rank
- 6621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ford | forth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing. | Forward in time, place or degree. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ford and forth apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
ford 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 6621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ford is recorded at frequency rank #2,996, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɔːd/. 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 6621, this pair ranks #510,682 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ford" and "forth" be used interchangeably?
Remembering ford vs forth
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ford”; for an adverb, it's “forth”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ford” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable