forte vs fronte, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“forte” is an adjective and “fronte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#463
“forte” frequency rank: #26,397
“fronte” frequency rank: 26860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	forte	fronte
Definition	que tem força	parte superior do rosto (desde a raiz dos cabelos até às sobrancelhas)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set forte and fronte apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

forte

6 ch

fronte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: forte is [ˈfɔɾt͡ʃɪ] while fronte is /ˈfɾõ.tɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

forte is recorded at frequency rank #463, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɔɾt͡ʃɪ]. fronte is at rank #26,397, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾõ.tɨ/.

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 26860, this pair ranks #42,216 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of forte vs fronte

Shared letters: efort. Private to "forte": -. Private to "fronte": n.

"forte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fronte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

forte ← fforte · foret · forrte · fortte · fotre · frote · ofrte
fronte ← ffronte · fornte · frnote · fronet · fronnte · frontte · frotne · frronte

Frequency comparison

forte#463

fronte#26,397

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "forte" and "fronte" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "forte" is an adjective and "fronte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "forte" or "fronte"?

"forte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #463 in our Portuguese list, against #26,397 for "fronte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering forte vs fronte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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