Which to use
“foram” and “furar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #97
- “foram” frequency rank
- #14,378
- “furar” frequency rank
- 14475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foram | furar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser | abrir furo, buraco ou rombo em; cavar |
Where the eye mixes foram and furar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between foram and furar
A purely visual mix-up. foram (/ˈfo.ɾã/) and furar (/fu.ˈɾaɾ/) 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 14475, 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/. furar is at rank #14,378, tagged as averb, pronounced /fu.ˈɾaɾ/.
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 14475, this pair ranks #57,592 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of foram vs furar
Shared letters: afr. Private to "foram": mo. Private to "furar": u.
"foram" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "furar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foram" and "furar" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "foram" vs "furar" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "furar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,592 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foram" and "furar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fartar vs furar". 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 #57,592 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.