Which to use
“forget” and “forgo” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #924
- “forget” frequency rank
- #29,282
- “forgo” frequency rank
- 30206
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forget | forgo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To lose remembrance of. | To do without (something enjoyable); to relinquish. |
Where the eye mixes forget and forgo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses forget with forgo
A purely visual mix-up. forget (/fəˈɡɛt/) and forgo (/fɔːˈɡəʊ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30206, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forget is recorded at frequency rank #924, classified as averb, pronounced /fəˈɡɛt/. forgo is at rank #29,282, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɔːˈɡəʊ/.
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 30206, this pair ranks #356,510 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of forget vs forgo
Shared letters: fgor. Private to "forget": et. Private to "forgo": -.
"forget" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "forgo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "forget" and "forgo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "forget" vs "forgo" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "forget" and "forgo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "forget" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forgo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,510 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forget" and "forgo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FOMO vs forgo". 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 #356,510 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.