foramvsforroWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: foram is a verb, forro is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“foram” is a verb and “forro” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#97
“foram” frequency rank
#22,330
“forro” frequency rank
22427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foram forro
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser que teve alforria, liberto da escravidão, aforriado

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set foram and forro apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
foram
5 ch
forro

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foram is /ˈfo.ɾã/ while forro is /ˈfo.Ru/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22427, 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/. forro is at rank #22,330, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfo.Ru/.

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 22427, this pair ranks #47,617 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foram vs forro

Shared letters: for. Private to "foram": am. Private to "forro": -.

"foram" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "forro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foramfforam · foarm · foramm · forma · forram · froam · ofram
  • forrofforro · foror · froro · ofrro

Frequency comparison

foram#97
forro#22,330

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foram" and "forro" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "foram" is a verb and "forro" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "foram" or "forro"?
"foram" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #97 in our Portuguese list, against #22,330 for "forro". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering foram vs forro

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “foram”; for an adjective, it's “forro”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “foram” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list