Which to use
“filled” is an adjective and “foiled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,041
- “filled” frequency rank
- #29,659
- “foiled” frequency rank
- 31700
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filled | foiled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That is now full. | simple past and past participle of foil |
Where the eye mixes filled and foiled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses filled with foiled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: filled is /fɪld/ while foiled is /fɔɪld/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filled is recorded at frequency rank #2,041, classified as anadj, pronounced /fɪld/. 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 31700, this pair ranks #343,974 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of filled vs foiled
Shared letters: defil. Private to "filled": -. Private to "foiled": o.
"filled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "foiled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "filled" and "foiled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "filled" vs "foiled" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "filled" and "foiled" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "filled" 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 #343,974 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "filled" 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 #343,974 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.