Which to use
“fouled” is a verb and “fouls” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,431
- “fouled” frequency rank
- #23,837
- “fouls” frequency rank
- 50268
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouled | fouls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of foul | plural of foul |
Where the eye mixes fouled and fouls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fouled runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against fouls's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fouled vs fouls
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fouled is /faʊld/ while fouls is /faʊlz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50268, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fouled is recorded at frequency rank #26,431, classified as averb, pronounced /faʊld/. 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 50268, this pair ranks #175,834 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fouled vs fouls
Shared letters: flou. Private to "fouled": de. Private to "fouls": s.
"fouled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "fouls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fouled" and "fouls" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fouled" or "fouls"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fouled" and "fouls" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fouled" 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 #175,834 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouled" and "fouls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouled 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 #175,834 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.