Which to use
“feel” is a verb and “foul” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #201
- “feel” frequency rank
- #6,574
- “foul” frequency rank
- 6775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feel | foul |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To use or experience the sense of touch. | Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty. |
Where the eye mixes feel and foul
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feel is /fiːl/ while foul is /faʊl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feel is recorded at frequency rank #201, classified as averb, pronounced /fiːl/. foul is at rank #6,574, tagged as anadj, pronounced /faʊl/.
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 6775, this pair ranks #510,023 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of feel vs foul
Shared letters: fl. Private to "feel": e. Private to "foul": ou.
"feel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "foul" · 4 letters · shape CVVC