Oof, I forget that most forths are a bit mind bending with the compiler STATE. There are 2/3 alternatives to using compiler state aka IMMEDIATE.

https://github.com/dan4thewin/FreeForth2 This uses a two-pass search, for macros` and after that immediate words.

The most interesting one is Able forth https://github.com/ablevm which uses flow control to defer execution, aka quotations. I find using quotations instead of immediate modes easier to understand.

With both of these, they always compile expressions before executing them, so IF/THEN/ELSE can be used at any time.