Which to use
“foretold” is a verb and “foreword” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,298
- “foretold” frequency rank
- #24,453
- “foreword” frequency rank
- 59751
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foretold | foreword |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of foretell | An introductory section preceding the main text of a book or other document; especially, one written by another person (not the author of the work thus introduced). |
Where the eye mixes foretold and foreword
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: foretold vs foreword
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foretold is /ˈfɔɹ.toʊld/ while foreword is /ˈfɔːwɜːd/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foretold is recorded at frequency rank #35,298, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfɔɹ.toʊld/. foreword is at rank #24,453, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔːwɜːd/.
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 59751, this pair ranks #104,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foretold vs foreword
Shared letters: defor. Private to "foretold": lt. Private to "foreword": w.
"foretold" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "foreword" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foretold" for "foreword" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foretold" vs "foreword" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foretold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foreword" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #104,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foretold" and "foreword" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "firework vs foreword". 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 #104,314 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.