foment
/fəʊˈmɛnt/
"foment" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“foment” is uncommon English (frequency #59,398 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,398
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To incite or cause troublesome acts; to encourage; to instigate.
Corpus desk
Index EN-foment · foment · English
foment · rank #59,398 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #59,398
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH FLS
Nearest frequency peer: FLS (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “foment”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- fibroblast
fibroblast
40,609 corpus weight
- fief
fief
40,608 corpus weight
- FLS
FLS
40,604 corpus weight
- foment
foment
40,603 corpus weight
- founds
founds
40,600 corpus weight
- Fowler's
Fowler's
40,599 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “foment” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | foment |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /fəʊˈmɛnt/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #59,398 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “foment” in English
Rare enough to double-check
foment is uncommon English at frequency #59,398 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /fəʊˈmɛnt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for foment, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fomenten, a borrowing from Old French fomenter, from Late Latin fōmentāre, from Latin fōmentum (“lotion”), from fovēre (“heat, cherish”). The correct English form is foment, spelled F-O-M-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1To incite or cause troublesome acts; to encourage; to instigate.
- 2To apply a poultice to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how foment appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He was arrested for fomenting a riot; after all, it's bad enough being in a riot but starting one is much worse.
Foreign governments have tried to foment unrest.
Etymology
From Middle English fomenten, a borrowing from Old French fomenter, from Late Latin fōmentāre, from Latin fōmentum (“lotion”), from fovēre (“heat, cherish”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "foment"?
What does "foment" mean?
How do you pronounce "foment"?
What is the origin of the word "foment"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "foment", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).