Output of loop variable shows different value than expected

Imagine I have two folders in my current working directory: back/ and front/. I am trying to enter inside each of them and do some stuff. From the simple script below:

-shell
for dir in */ ; do
    echo "$(dir)"
done

I was expecting an output like:

back
front

However, what I am getting is:

back  front
back  front

I don't understand. The consequence is that, if I try to cd into the folder:

-shell
for dir in */ ; do
    echo "$(dir)"
    cd $(dir)
    echo "$(pwd)"
    cd ..
done

I get:

back  front
/path/to/back
back  front
/path/to/back

I.e. I never enter front/. Could someone please help me understand what I am doing wrong?