foravsforemTell them apart

Quick tell: fora is a adverb, forem is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fora” is an adverb and “forem” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#246
“fora” frequency rank
#3,330
“forem” frequency rank
3576
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fora forem
Definition exteriormente terceira pessoa do plural do futuro do subjuntivo do verbo ser.

Where the eye mixes fora and forem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fora
5 ch
forem

Visual trap between fora and forem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fora is /ˈfɔ.ɾɐ/ while forem is /ˈfo.ɾẽ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fora is recorded at frequency rank #246, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈfɔ.ɾɐ/. forem is at rank #3,330, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.ɾẽ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 3576, this pair ranks #71,541 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fora vs forem

Shared letters: for. Private to "fora": a. Private to "forem": em.

"fora" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "forem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foraffora · foar · forra · froa · ofra
  • foremfforem · foerm · foremm · forme · forrem · froem · ofrem

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fora" for "forem" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fora" is an adverb and "forem" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fora" vs "forem" - which ranks higher?
"fora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #246 in our Portuguese list, against #3,330 for "forem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fora" and "forem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fora" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "forem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,541 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fora" and "forem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forem vs former". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #71,541 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list