foul

/faʊl/

//faʊl// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"foul" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“foul” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,574 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.

#6,574
frequency rank, English
4
letters
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

foul vs fu
50% similar
foul vs fun
50% similar
foul vs fox
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for foul
PropertyValue
Headwordfoul
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/faʊl/
Letters4
Frequency rank#6,574
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “foul” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). foul lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for foul is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /faʊl/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,574 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for foul, with forms such as "ffoul", "folu", and "foull". 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, "fu", "fun", "fox", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūl, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”). Cognat… The correct English form is foul, spelled F-O-U-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.
  2. 2
    Obscene, vulgar or abusive.
  3. 3
    Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
  4. 4
    Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.
  5. 5
    Ugly; homely; poor.
  6. 6
    Unpleasant, stormy or rainy. (of the weather)
  7. 7
    Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.
  8. 8
    Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.
  9. 9
    (with "of") Positioned on, in, or near enough to (a specified area) so as to obstruct it.
  10. 10
    Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūl, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”). Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul, dirty, filthy, obscene, lewd”), German faul (“foul, rotten, putrid, lazy”), German Low German fuul (“foul, rotten, putrid”), Faroese fúlur (“foul”), Icelandic fúll (“foul, rotten, sullen”), Danish ful (“nasty, ugly”), Norwegian Bokmål ful (“clever, sly”), and Swedish ful (“ugly, dirty, bad”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid. Ancient Greek φαῦλος (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.

Synonyms

shamefulodiouswretchedfrightful

This word in other languages

inmundo(Español)souillé(Français)schmutzig(Deutsch)detestável(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ffoul,folu,foull,fuol,oful

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of foul - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ffoul1folu2foull1fuol2oful2
Edit distance from "foul"

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "foul"?
"foul" is spelled F-O-U-L. The IPA pronunciation is /faʊl/.
What does "foul" mean?
As an adjective, "foul" means: Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.
What words are commonly confused with "foul"?
"foul" is commonly confused with "fu", "fun", "fox". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "foul"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "foul" is /faʊl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "foul"?
Inherited from Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūl, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “foul”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is F-O-U-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /faʊl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “fu” - see the side-by-side comparison. foul vs fu
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list