Which to use
“foresee” and “foreseen” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,975
- “foresee” frequency rank
- #30,426
- “foreseen” frequency rank
- 53401
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foresee | foreseen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To perceive (a situation or event) in advance. | past participle of foresee |
Where the eye mixes foresee and foreseen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foresee with foreseen
A purely visual mix-up. foresee (/fɔɹˈsi/) and foreseen (/fɔɹˈsiːn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “foresee” sits inside “foreseen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foresee is recorded at frequency rank #22,975, classified as averb, pronounced /fɔɹˈsi/. foreseen is at rank #30,426, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɔɹˈsiːn/.
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 53401, this pair ranks #149,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foresee vs foreseen
Shared letters: efors. Private to "foresee": -. Private to "foreseen": n.
"foresee" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "foreseen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foresee" and "foreseen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "foresee" vs "foreseen" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foresee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foreseen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #149,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foresee" and "foreseen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foreseen vs foreskin". 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 #149,292 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.