Which to use
“foiled” and “footed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,659
- “foiled” frequency rank
- #19,602
- “footed” frequency rank
- 49261
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foiled | footed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of foil | simple past and past participle of foot |
Where the eye mixes foiled and footed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foiled with footed
A purely visual mix-up. foiled (/fɔɪld/) and footed (/ˈfʊtɪd/) 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 49261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foiled is recorded at frequency rank #29,659, classified as averb, pronounced /fɔɪld/. footed is at rank #19,602, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfʊtɪd/.
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 49261, this pair ranks #185,307 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foiled vs footed
Shared letters: defo. Private to "foiled": il. Private to "footed": t.
"foiled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "footed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foiled" and "footed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "foiled" or "footed"?
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 "foiled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "footed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #185,307 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foiled" and "footed" 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 #185,307 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.