fool
/fuːl/
"fool" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fool” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,378. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #4,378
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.
Corpus desk
Index EN-fool · fool · English
fool · rank #4,378 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,378
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 18,613
- PHOTO-FINISH framework
Nearest frequency peer: framework (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “fool”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- existed
existed
95,626 corpus weight
- fifty
fifty
95,625 corpus weight
- fool
fool
95,623 corpus weight
- framework
framework
95,622 corpus weight
- franchise
franchise
95,621 corpus weight
- funded
funded
95,620 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “fool” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fool |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fuːl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #4,378 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fool” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around fool (IPA /fuːl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,378 among 18,613 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for fool, with forms such as "ffool", "fol", and "folo". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "for", "fox", "fro", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs. The correct English form is fool, spelled F-O-O-L.
Definition
- 1A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.
- 2A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).
- 3A stock character typified by unintelligence, naïveté or lucklessness, usually as a form of comic relief; often used as a source of insight or pathos for the audience, as such characters are generally less bound by social expectations.
- 4Someone who has been made a fool of or tricked; dupe.
- 5Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.
- 6An informal greeting akin to buddy, dude, or man.
- 7A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.
- 8A tankie.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how fool appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking.
The village fool threw his own shoes down the well.
Etymology
From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ffool
- fol
- folo
- fooll
- ofol
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fool - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fool", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.