The foot is a unit of length in the imperial unit system and uses the symbol ft.
One foot is exactly equal to 12 inches. It is also exactly equal to 0.3048m. One yard is comprised of three feet.
The foot is just behind the metre in terms of widespread use due to its previous popularity. The US is the only developed country that still uses the foot in preference to the metre.
The UK still uses feet to express human height more than metres.
The ell is a unit of length and originates from historic England and uses the symbol ell.
The ell usually measured 45in or 1.143m but was origally a "cubit" - which was the length from your elbow to the tip of your fingers and literally translated from the word "arm". It was mostly used in the tailoring world when buying and selling textiles.
Although now obsolete, the word "ell" still survives in the English word "elbow".