Which to use
“foes” and “fouls” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,472
- “foes” frequency rank
- #23,837
- “fouls” frequency rank
- 40309
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foes | fouls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of foe | plural of foul |
Where the eye mixes foes and fouls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. foes runs 4 letters (CVVC) against fouls's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses foes with fouls
A purely visual mix-up. foes (/fəʊz/) and fouls (/faʊlz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foes is recorded at frequency rank #16,472, classified as anoun, pronounced /fəʊz/. fouls is at rank #23,837, tagged as anoun, pronounced /faʊlz/.
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 40309, this pair ranks #268,768 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foes vs fouls
Shared letters: fos. Private to "foes": e. Private to "fouls": lu.
"foes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fouls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foes" and "fouls" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "foes" vs "fouls" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #268,768 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foes" and "fouls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fou vs fouls". 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 #268,768 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.