Which to use
“forth” is an adverb and “fourth” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,625
- “forth” frequency rank
- #1,562
- “fourth” frequency rank
- 5187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forth | fourth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forward in time, place or degree. | The ordinal form of the number four. |
Same sound, different letters: forth vs fourth
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: forth vs fourth
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: forth and fourth carry the same recorded pronunciation, /fɔːθ/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadverb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forth is recorded at frequency rank #3,625, classified as anadv, pronounced /fɔːθ/. fourth is at rank #1,562, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɔːθ/.
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 5187, this pair ranks #516,276 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of forth vs fourth
Shared letters: fhort. Private to "forth": -. Private to "fourth": u.
"forth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "fourth" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "forth" and "fourth" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "forth" or "fourth"?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "forth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fourth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,276 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forth" and "fourth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foh vs forth". 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 #516,276 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.