forties

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"forties" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“forties” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #27,467. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#27,467
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The fifth decade of a century: the 1840s, 1940s, 2040s, etc.

Corpus desk

Index EN-forties · forties · English

forties · rank #27,467 · 10 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #27,467
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH forgave

Nearest frequency peer: forgave (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “forties”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

forties vs fries
71% similar
forties vs fortify
71% similar
forties vs fortress
75% similar

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

Key facts for forties
PropertyValue
Headwordforties
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#27,467
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “forties”

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).fortieslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “forgave” (#27,466), “friar” (#27,468), “forfeiture” (#27,465). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “forties” is #27,467. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around forties, anoun. Corpus frequency is #27,467 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for forties, with forms such as "fforties", "forites", and "forrties". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "fries", "fortify", "fortress", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is forties, spelled F-O-R-T-I-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    The fifth decade of a century: the 1840s, 1940s, 2040s, etc.
  2. 2
    The decade of one's life from age 40 through age 49.
  3. 3
    The range between 40 and 49.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how forties appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. My ma was born in the forties and my pa was born in the seventies.
  2. They're both in their forties.

This word in other languages

Vierziger(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • fforties
  • forites
  • forrties
  • forteis
  • fortiess
  • fortise
  • fortties
  • fotries
  • froties
  • ofrties

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

fforties1forites2forrties1forteis2fortiess1fortise2fortties1fotries2
Edit distance from "forties"

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 "forties"?
"forties" is spelled F-O-R-T-I-E-S.
What does "forties" mean?
As a noun, "forties" means: The fifth decade of a century: the 1840s, 1940s, 2040s, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "forties"?
"forties" is commonly confused with "fries", "fortify", "fortress". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "forties" come from?
"forties" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "forties", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

forgave#27,466garnish#27,472fervent#27,459Georgie#27,475

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

headway10 variantshearsay10 variantsconvene10 variantscoexist10 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list