foremvsforemanWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#3,330
“forem” frequency rank
#45,364
“foreman” frequency rank
48694
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forem foreman
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do futuro do subjuntivo do verbo ser. capataz, feitor

Where the eye mixes forem and foreman

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
forem
7 ch
foreman

Why the eye confuses forem with foreman

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forem is /ˈfo.ɾẽ/ while foreman is /ˈfɔː(ɹ)mən/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “forem” sits inside “foreman”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forem is recorded at frequency rank #3,330, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.ɾẽ/. foreman is at rank #45,364, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔː(ɹ)mən/.

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 48694, this pair ranks #16,468 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of forem vs foreman

Shared letters: efmor. Private to "forem": -. Private to "foreman": an.

"forem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "foreman" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foremfforem · foerm · foremm · forme · forrem · froem · ofrem
  • foremanfforeman · foerman · foreamn · foremann · foremman · foremna · formean · forreman

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "forem" and "foreman" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forem" is a verb and "foreman" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "forem" or "foreman"?
"forem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,330 in our Portuguese list, against #45,364 for "foreman". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "forem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "foreman" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,468 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forem" and "foreman" 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 #16,468 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