Which to use
“foiled” and “forced” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,659
- “foiled” frequency rank
- #1,561
- “forced” frequency rank
- 31220
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foiled | forced |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of foil | simple past and past participle of force |
Where the eye mixes foiled and forced
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: foiled vs forced
A purely visual mix-up. foiled (/fɔɪld/) and forced (/fɔɹst/) 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 31220, 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/. forced is at rank #1,561, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɔɹst/.
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 31220, this pair ranks #347,980 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foiled vs forced
Shared letters: defo. Private to "foiled": il. Private to "forced": cr.
"foiled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "forced" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foiled" for "forced" ever safe?
Which is more common, "foiled" or "forced"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "foiled" and "forced" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foiled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forced" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,980 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foiled" and "forced" 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 #347,980 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.