foresvsformerTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#24,651
“fores” frequency rank
#47,368
“former” frequency rank
72019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fores former
Definition segunda pessoa do singular do futuro do conjuntivo/subjuntivo do verbo ir; formador

Letter map: fores vs former

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

5 ch
fores
6 ch
former

Role in the sentence - fores and former

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fores is averb and formeranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fores is recorded at frequency rank #24,651, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.ɾes/. 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 72019, this pair ranks #3,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fores vs former

Shared letters: efor. Private to "fores": s. Private to "former": m.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foresffores · foers · foress · forres · forse · froes · ofres
  • formerfformer · fomrer · foremr · formerr · formmer · formre · forrmer · fromer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fores" for "former" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fores" is a verb and "former" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fores" or "former"?
"fores" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,651 in our Portuguese list, against #47,368 for "former". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fores" and "former".

  • Full dictionary entry for "fores" 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 #3,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fores" 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 #3,183 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