foundationvsfundaciónWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“foundation” and “fundación” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,704
“foundation” frequency rank
#1,509
“fundación” frequency rank
15213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foundation fundación
Definition Cimiento. acción y efecto de fundar

Where the eye mixes foundation and fundación

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. foundation runs 10 letters (CVVCCVCVVC) against fundación's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
foundation
9 ch
fundación

Look-alike desk: foundation vs fundación

A purely visual mix-up. foundation (/faʊnˈdeɪ.ʃən/) and fundación ([fũn̪d̪aˈsjõn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foundation is recorded at frequency rank #13,704, classified as anoun, pronounced /faʊnˈdeɪ.ʃən/. fundación is at rank #1,509, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fũn̪d̪aˈsjõn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 15213, this pair ranks #281,097 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of foundation vs fundación

Shared letters: adfinu. Private to "foundation": ot. Private to "fundación": có.

"foundation" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCVVC  ·  "fundación" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foundation ← ffoundation · fonudation · foudnation · founadtion · foundaiton · foundatino · foundationn · foundatoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "foundation" for "fundación" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/faʊnˈdeɪ.ʃən/ versus [fũn̪d̪aˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "foundation" vs "fundación" - which ranks higher?
"fundación" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,509 in our Spanish list, against #13,704 for "foundation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foundation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fundación" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,097 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foundation" and "fundación" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fecundación vs fundación". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #281,097 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list