Which to use
“foiled” is a verb and “forged” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,659
- “foiled” frequency rank
- #10,849
- “forged” frequency rank
- 40508
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foiled | forged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of foil | Fake (as documents); falsified. |
Where the eye mixes foiled and forged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between foiled and forged
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foiled is /fɔɪld/ while forged is /fɔːd͡ʒd/. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40508, 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/. forged is at rank #10,849, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɔːd͡ʒd/.
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 40508, this pair ranks #266,922 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foiled vs forged
Shared letters: defo. Private to "foiled": il. Private to "forged": gr.
"foiled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "forged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foiled" and "forged" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "foiled" vs "forged" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foiled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #266,922 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foiled" and "forged" 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 #266,922 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.