Forbes

Name: Forbes, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/fɔɹbz/

//fɔɹbz// name

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“Forbes” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #9,470. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,470
frequency rank, English: 2,507
“F” headwords: 9
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

Corpus desk

Index EN-forbes · Forbes · English

Forbes · rank #9,470 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-COMMON #9,470
LEN-LONG 6 letters
VOW-2 2 vowels
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-MID 9 variants
BOOK-MID 2,507
PHOTO-FINISH flee

Nearest frequency peer: flee (-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.

exhaust

90,534
flee

90,532
Forbes

90,531
forwards

90,530
fries

90,529
fundraising

90,528

What this shows “Forbes” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Forbes vs force

50% similar

Forbes vs forms

50% similar

Forbes vs fries

50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Forbes
Property	Value
Headword	Forbes
Language	English
Part of speech	Proper noun
IPA	/fɔɹbz/
Letters	6
Frequency rank	#9,470
Misspellings tracked	9
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “Forbes”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).Forbeslands here:

#9,470

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “flee” (#9,469), “forwards” (#9,471), “fries” (#9,472). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “Forbes” is #9,470. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around Forbes (IPA /fɔɹbz/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #9,470 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for Forbes, with forms such as "fforbes", "fobres", and "forbbes". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "force", "forms", "fries", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is Forbes, spelled F-O-R-B-E-S.

Definition

1
A surname from Scottish Gaelic.
2
A unisex given name from Scottish Gaelic.
3
A ghost town in California.
4
A township and village in Holt County, Missouri, named after John Murray Forbes.
5
A minor city in Dickey County, North Dakota, United States.
6
A neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
7
A town and local government area (Forbes Shire) in central-west New South Wales, Australia.
8
A locality in the Shire of Mitchell, central Victoria, Australia.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

fforbes
fobres
forbbes
forbess
forbse
forebs
forrbes
frobes
ofrbes

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Forbes - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Edit distance from "Forbes"

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 "Forbes"?

"Forbes" is spelled F-O-R-B-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is /fɔɹbz/.

What does "Forbes" mean?

As a proper noun, "Forbes" means: A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

What words are commonly confused with "Forbes"?

"Forbes" is commonly confused with "force", "forms", "fries". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "Forbes"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Forbes" is /fɔɹbz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "Forbes" come from?

"Forbes" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Forbes", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

dubbed#9,460 coding#9,452 ceased#9,450 kindle#9,490

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Eleanor9 variants dioxide9 variants cuisine9 variants melody9 variants