# awful vs AWOL

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### awful
*adjective · IPA /ˈɔː.fʊl/ · frequency rank #3,209*
Very bad.

### AWOL
*adjective · IPA /ˈeɪ̯.wɔl/ · frequency rank #41,519*
Absent without official leave (permission).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/awful-vs-awol