forego
/fɔɹˈɡoʊ/
"forego" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“forego” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #35,297 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #35,297
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To precede, to go before.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | forego |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /fɔɹˈɡoʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #35,297 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “forego” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for forego is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɔɹˈɡoʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #35,297 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To precede, to go before.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for forego, with forms such as "fforego", "foergo", and "foreggo". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "forge", "forex", "forgo", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English forgan, from Old English foregān, equivalent to fore- + go. The correct English form is forego, spelled F-O-R-E-G-O.
Definition
- 1To precede, to go before.
Etymology
From Middle English forgan, from Old English foregān, equivalent to fore- + go.
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fforego,foergo,foreggo,foreog,forgeo,forrego,froego,ofrego
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of forego - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “forego”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-R-E-G-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fɔɹˈɡoʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “forge” - see the side-by-side comparison. forego vs forge
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.