Foreword or forward?
foreword is a noun meaning “An introductory section preceding the main text of a book or other document…”; forward is an adjective meaning “Situated toward or at the front of something”. Use foreword as a noun and forward as an adjective (forward is also a noun: “One of the eight players (comprising two props, one hooker…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) forward is about 98 times as common as foreword.
What is the difference between foreword and forward?
| foreword | forward | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | adjective, adverb, verb, noun |
| Meaning | 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… | Situated toward or at the front of something Situated toward or near the enemy lines At, near or towards the front of something |
| Example | none recorded | The fire was confined to the forward portion of the store |
| Forms | forewords | forwarder, forwardmost, forwardest |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfɔːwɜːd/ /ˈfɔɹwɝd/ /ˈfɔɹwɚd/ | /ˈfɔːwəd/ /ˈfɔɹwəɹd/ /ˈfoʊwəɹd/ |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words | 132 times per million words |
Sources: foreword and forward in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of foreword and forward
foreword
- 1
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)
forward
- 1
Situated toward or at the front of something
The fire was confined to the forward portion of the store
- 2
At, near or towards the front of something
She was sitting well forward in the railway carriage
- 3
To advance, promote
He did all he could to forward the interests of the school
- 4
One of the eight players (comprising two props, one hooker, two locks, two flankers and one number eight, collectively known as the pack) whose primary task is to gain and maintain possession of the…
- 5
Situated toward or near the enemy lines
The forward battalion took a hammering
- 6
At, near, or towards the bow of a vessel (with the frame of reference within the vessel)
- 7
To send (a letter, email etc.) on to a third party
I'll be glad to forward your mail to you while you're gone
- 8
A player on a team in football (soccer) in the row nearest to the opposing team's goal, who are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, foreword or forward?
foreword appears 1.3 times per million words; forward 132 times per million words.
foreword 1.3 times per million wordsforward 132 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search foreword vs forward?
“foreword vs forward” is searched about 880 times a month on Google and 70 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“forward vs foreword”, “foreword or forward”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.