former

noun

The verdict

“former” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #47,368 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.

#47,368
frequency rank, Portuguese
6
letters
9
tracked misspellings
15
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - formador

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

former vs forte
67% similar
former vs formos
67% similar
former vs formol
67% similar

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

Key facts for former
PropertyValue
Headwordformer
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Frequency rank#47,368
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “former” sits in Portuguese frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). former lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Portuguese entry for former is 6 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #47,368 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "formador".

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for former, with forms such as "fformer", "fomrer", and "foremr". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "forte", "formos", "formol", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Portuguese form is former, spelled F-O-R-M-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    formador

Synonyms

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: fformer,fomrer,foremr,formerr,formmer,formre,forrmer,fromer,ofrmer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

fformer1fomrer2foremr2formerr1formmer1formre2forrmer1fromer2
Edit distance from "former"

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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "former"?
"former" is spelled F-O-R-M-E-R.
What does "former" mean?
As a noun, "former" means: formador
What words are commonly confused with "former"?
"former" is commonly confused with "forte", "formos", "formol". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "former" come from?
"former" is a Portuguese 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.

Using “former”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Portuguese spelling is F-O-R-M-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “forte” - see the side-by-side comparison. former vs forte
  • Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list