Which to use
“forge” is a noun and “forged” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,901
- “forge” frequency rank
- #10,849
- “forged” frequency rank
- 20750
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forge | forged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A furnace or hearth where metals are heated prior to hammering them into shape. | Fake (as documents); falsified. |
Where the eye mixes forge and forged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: forge vs forged
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forge is /fɔːd͡ʒ/ while forged is /fɔːd͡ʒd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “forge” sits inside “forged”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forge is recorded at frequency rank #9,901, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɔːd͡ʒ/. forged is at rank #10,849, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɔːd͡ʒd/.
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 20750, this pair ranks #428,921 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of forge vs forged
Shared letters: efgor. Private to "forge": -. Private to "forged": d.
"forge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "forged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "forge" for "forged" ever safe?
Which is more common, "forge" or "forged"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "forge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,921 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forge" and "forged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forge vs Foyle". 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 #428,921 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.