Which to use
“flowed” and “fooled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,827
- “flowed” frequency rank
- #12,980
- “fooled” frequency rank
- 31807
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flowed | fooled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of flow | simple past and past participle of fool |
Where the eye mixes flowed and fooled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. flowed (CCVCVC) and fooled (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses flowed with fooled
A purely visual mix-up. flowed (/fləʊd/) and fooled (/fuːld/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flowed is recorded at frequency rank #18,827, classified as averb, pronounced /fləʊd/. fooled is at rank #12,980, tagged as averb, pronounced /fuːld/.
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 31807, this pair ranks #343,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flowed vs fooled
Shared letters: deflo. Private to "flowed": w. Private to "fooled": -.
"flowed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "fooled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flowed" for "fooled" ever safe?
Which is more common, "flowed" or "fooled"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "flowed" and "fooled" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "flowed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fooled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #343,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flowed" and "fooled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs flowed". 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 #343,017 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.