Which to use
“forties” and “fortunes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,467
- “forties” frequency rank
- #12,601
- “fortunes” frequency rank
- 40068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forties | fortunes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The fifth decade of a century: the 1840s, 1940s, 2040s, etc. | plural of fortune |
Letter map: forties vs fortunes
Shared letters muted; letters that set forties and fortunes apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. forties runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against fortunes's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Corpus notes: forties and fortunes
forties and fortunes are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forties is recorded at frequency rank #27,467, classified as anoun. fortunes is at rank #12,601, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔː(ɹ).tjuːnz/.
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 40068, this pair ranks #270,971 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of forties vs fortunes
Shared letters: eforst. Private to "forties": i. Private to "fortunes": nu.
"forties" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "fortunes" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "forties" and "fortunes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "forties" or "fortunes" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "forties" and "fortunes". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "forties" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fortunes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #270,971 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forties" and "fortunes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forties vs fortify". 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 #270,971 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.