Which to use
“fabled” is an adjective and “foiled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,228
- “fabled” frequency rank
- #29,659
- “foiled” frequency rank
- 62887
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fabled | foiled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Known only in fables; fictitious. | simple past and past participle of foil |
Letter map: fabled vs foiled
Shared letters muted; letters that set fabled and foiled apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: fabled vs foiled
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fabled is anadjective and foiledaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62887, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fabled is recorded at frequency rank #33,228, classified as anadj. foiled is at rank #29,659, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɔɪld/.
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 62887, this pair ranks #86,034 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fabled vs foiled
Shared letters: defl. Private to "fabled": ab. Private to "foiled": io.
"fabled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "foiled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fabled" and "foiled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fabled" vs "foiled" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fabled" and "foiled".
- Full dictionary entry for "fabled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foiled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,034 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fabled" and "foiled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foiled vs Foyle". 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 #86,034 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.