fowl

/faʊl/

//faʊl// noun

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

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

The verdict

“fowl” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #28,924. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#28,924
frequency rank, English
2,507
“F” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A bird hunted or kept for food, grouped into landfowl (order Galliformes), also called gamefowl, and waterfowl (order Anseriformes: ducks, geese, swans, etc.), which together form the clade Galloan...

Corpus desk

Index EN-fowl · fowl · English

fowl · rank #28,924 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,924
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,507
  • PHOTO-FINISH fong

Nearest frequency peer: fong (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “fowl”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “fowl” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

fowl vs FW
0% similar
fowl vs fox
50% similar
fowl vs FTW
0% similar

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

Key facts for fowl
PropertyValue
Headwordfowl
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/faʊl/
Letters4
Frequency rank#28,924
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “fowl”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).fowllands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “fong” (#28,923), “foxy” (#28,925), “fluctuating” (#28,922). Among 2,507 “F” headwords, “fowl” is #28,924. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around fowl (IPA /faʊl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #28,924 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for fowl, with forms such as "ffowl", "fowll", and "fowwl". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "FW", "fox", "FTW", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English foul, foghel, fowel, fowele, from Old English fugol (“bird”), from Proto-West Germanic *fugl, from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, dissimilated variant of *fluglaz (compare Old English flugol ‘fleeing’, Mercian fluglas heofun ‘birds of the air’)… The correct English form is fowl, spelled F-O-W-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A bird hunted or kept for food, grouped into landfowl (order Galliformes), also called gamefowl, and waterfowl (order Anseriformes: ducks, geese, swans, etc.), which together form the clade Galloanserae.
  2. 2
    Any bird.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how fowl appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And now I take vpon me the aduentures of holy thynges / & now I see and vnderstande that myn old synne hyndereth me and shameth me / so that I had no power to stere nor speke whan the holy blood appiered afore me / So thus he sorowed til hit was day / & herd the fowles synge / thenne somwhat he was comforted

Etymology

From Middle English foul, foghel, fowel, fowele, from Old English fugol (“bird”), from Proto-West Germanic *fugl, from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, dissimilated variant of *fluglaz (compare Old English flugol ‘fleeing’, Mercian fluglas heofun ‘birds of the air’), from *fleuganą (“to fly”). Cognate with West Frisian fûgel, Low German Vagel, Dutch vogel, German Vogel, Swedish fågel, Danish and Norwegian fugl. Doublet of voël. More at fly.

Synonyms

fowlgamefowlpoultrywildfowl

This word in other languages

ave(Español)volaille(Français)Geflügel(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffowl
  • fowll
  • fowwl
  • fwol
  • ofwl

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fowl - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ffowl1fowll1fowwl1fwol2ofwl2
Edit distance from "fowl"

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 "fowl"?
"fowl" is spelled F-O-W-L. The IPA pronunciation is /faʊl/.
What does "fowl" mean?
As a noun, "fowl" means: A bird hunted or kept for food, grouped into landfowl (order Galliformes), also called gamefowl, and waterfowl (order Anseriformes: ducks, geese, swans, etc.), which together form the clade Galloan...
What words are commonly confused with "fowl"?
"fowl" is commonly confused with "FW", "fox", "FTW". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fowl"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fowl" 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 "fowl"?
From Middle English foul, foghel, fowel, fowele, from Old English fugol (“bird”), from Proto-West Germanic *fugl, from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, dissimilated variant of *fluglaz (compare Old English flugol ‘fleeing’, Mercian fluglas heofun ‘birds of... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fowl", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fong#28,923foxy#28,925furs#28,931Ewan#28,914

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

eros5 variantsDianne5 variantsChas5 variantsbuoy5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list