forgetvsfoughtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“forget” and “fought” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#924
“forget” frequency rank
#3,060
“fought” frequency rank
3984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forget fought
Definition To lose remembrance of. simple past and past participle of fight

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set forget and fought apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
forget
6 ch
fought

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. forget (/fəˈɡɛt/) and fought (/fɔːt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forget is recorded at frequency rank #924, classified as averb, pronounced /fəˈɡɛt/. fought is at rank #3,060, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɔːt/.

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 3984, this pair ranks #520,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of forget vs fought

Shared letters: fgot. Private to "forget": er. Private to "fought": hu.

"forget" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "fought" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • forgetfforget · fogret · foregt · forgett · forgget · forgte · forrget · froget
  • foughtffought · foguht · fougght · foughht · foughtt · fougth · fouhgt · fuoght

Frequency comparison

forget#924
fought#3,060

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forget" and "fought" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fəˈɡɛt/ versus /fɔːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "forget" or "fought"?
"forget" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #924 in our English list, against #3,060 for "fought". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering forget vs fought

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “forget” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list