foulvsfutWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: foul is a adjective, fut is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“foul” is an adjective and “fut” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,574
“foul” frequency rank
#44,798
“fut” frequency rank
51372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foul fut
Definition Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty. Alternative form of 'sfoot.

Letter map: foul vs fut

Shared letters muted; letters that set foul and fut apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
foul
3 ch
fut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: foul is anadjective and futanintj. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foul is recorded at frequency rank #6,574, classified as anadj, pronounced /faʊl/. fut is at rank #44,798, tagged as anintj.

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 51372, this pair ranks #166,021 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foul vs fut

Shared letters: fu. Private to "foul": lo. Private to "fut": t.

"foul" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foulffoul · folu · foull · fuol · oful

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foul" and "fut" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "foul" is an adjective and "fut" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "foul" or "fut"?
"foul" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,574 in our English list, against #44,798 for "fut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "foul" and "fut". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #166,021 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foul" and "fut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foh vs fut". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list