foremvsformerTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,330
“forem” frequency rank
#47,368
“former” frequency rank
50698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature forem former
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do futuro do subjuntivo do verbo ser. formador

Letter map: forem vs former

Shared letters muted; letters that set forem and former apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
forem
6 ch
former

Role in the sentence - forem and former

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: forem is averb and formeranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50698, 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/. former is at rank #47,368, tagged as anoun.

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 50698, this pair ranks #14,266 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of forem vs former

Shared letters: efmor. Private to "forem": -. Private to "former": -.

"forem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "former" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foremfforem · foerm · foremm · forme · forrem · froem · ofrem
  • formerfformer · fomrer · foremr · formerr · formmer · formre · forrmer · fromer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "forem" and "former" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forem" is a verb and "former" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "forem" vs "former" - which ranks higher?
"forem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,330 in our Portuguese list, against #47,368 for "former". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "forem" and "former". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "forem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "former" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,266 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "forem" and "former" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "former vs formol". 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 #14,266 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