Which to use
“fabled” is an adjective and “fouled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,228
- “fabled” frequency rank
- #26,431
- “fouled” frequency rank
- 59659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fabled | fouled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Known only in fables; fictitious. | simple past and past participle of foul |
Letter map: fabled vs fouled
Shared letters muted; letters that set fabled and fouled apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. fabled (CVCCVC) and fouled (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - fabled and fouled
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fabled is anadjective and fouledaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fabled is recorded at frequency rank #33,228, classified as anadj. fouled is at rank #26,431, tagged as averb, pronounced /faʊld/.
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 59659, this pair ranks #104,840 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fabled vs fouled
Shared letters: defl. Private to "fabled": ab. Private to "fouled": ou.
"fabled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fouled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fabled" and "fouled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "fabled" or "fouled" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "fabled" and "fouled". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "fabled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #104,840 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fabled" and "fouled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fabled vs faulted". 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 #104,840 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.