foramvsforesConfusable pair

Which to use

“foram” and “fores” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#97
“foram” frequency rank
#24,651
“fores” frequency rank
24748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foram fores
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser segunda pessoa do singular do futuro do conjuntivo/subjuntivo do verbo ir;

Where the eye mixes foram and fores

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. foram and fores follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
foram
5 ch
fores

Look-alike desk: foram vs fores

A purely visual mix-up. foram (/ˈfo.ɾã/) and fores (/ˈfo.ɾes/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foram is recorded at frequency rank #97, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.ɾã/. fores is at rank #24,651, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.ɾes/.

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 24748, this pair ranks #44,775 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foram vs fores

Shared letters: for. Private to "foram": am. Private to "fores": es.

"foram" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "fores" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foram ← fforam · foarm · foramm · forma · forram · froam · ofram
  • fores ← ffores · foers · foress · forres · forse · froes · ofres

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "foram" and "fores" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfo.ɾã/ versus /ˈfo.ɾes/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "foram" or "fores"?
"foram" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #97 in our Portuguese list, against #24,651 for "fores". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foram" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fores" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,775 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foram" and "fores" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fores 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 #44,775 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