Fell is the past tense of fall — it describes dropping or going down: "He fell off his bike." Felt is the past tense of feel — it describes sensing or emotion: "He felt dizzy afterwards." If you could substitute "dropped", use fell; if you could substitute "sensed", use felt.
These two get mixed up because they look alike and both are irregular past forms. They come from entirely different verbs: fall → fell → fallen, and feel → felt → felt.
How to use fell
Fell covers physical dropping and figurative decline:
- "She slipped on the ice and fell."
- "The vase fell off the shelf and smashed."
- "Temperatures fell sharply overnight."
- "The city fell after a three-month siege."
How to use felt
Felt covers physical sensation, emotion and opinion:
- "I felt a draught coming from the window."
- "He felt guilty for weeks."
- "The committee felt the proposal needed more work."
- "The blanket felt rough."
Notice that last one: felt can describe how something seemed to the toucher, not just what the toucher experienced.
The test
Swap in a plain substitute. If dropped or went down fits, you want fell. If sensed, experienced or thought fits, you want felt.
A second check works on the participle. Say the sentence with have: "I have fallen" versus "I have felt". Fall changes shape in the participle; feel does not. If "have fallen" is the version you would use, the simple past is fell.
The classic error, and two extras
The commonest mistake is writing "I fell sick" when you mean "I felt sick". Both are real English, but they say different things. Fell sick means became ill — the beginning of an illness. Felt sick means experienced nausea at a moment. "He fell ill in March and was off work until June" is a different story from "He felt ill after the ferry crossing."
The same pattern gives us fell asleep (the transition into sleep) and fell in love. These take fell, not felt, because they describe entering a state rather than sensing one.
Two other words to keep separate. Felt is also a fabric, the pressed woollen material used for hats and craft sheets. And fell is a transitive verb meaning to cut down: "They felled the old oak." That is why "the tree fell" and "they felled the tree" both work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it "I fell sick" or "I felt sick"?
Both exist but mean different things. "I felt sick" means you experienced nausea. "I fell sick" means you became ill and stayed ill for a while.
Is it "I fell asleep" or "I felt asleep"?
"I fell asleep." Fall is used for entering a state — fall asleep, fall ill, fall in love. "Felt asleep" is not English.
Why does "felt" also mean a fabric?
It is a separate word that happens to share the spelling. The two are unrelated in use: "a felt hat" is the material; "he felt cold" is the verb.