fontaine
\fɔ̃.tɛn\
The verdict
“fontaine” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #4,671 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,671
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Eau vive qui sort de terre.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fontaine |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \fɔ̃.tɛn\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #4,671 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fontaine” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for fontaine is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fɔ̃.tɛn\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,671 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for fontaine, with forms such as "ffontaine", "fnotaine", and "fonatine". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "foraine", "fontana", "foutaise", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is fontaine, spelled F-O-N-T-A-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Eau vive qui sort de terre.
- 2Corps d’architecture qui sert pour l’écoulement, pour le jeu des eaux d’une fontaine.
- 3Appareil distribuant une boisson.
- 4Récipient dans lequel on garde de l’eau, pour les usages domestiques.
- 5Machine d’où l’on fait jaillir un liquide par la pression et la force élastique de l’air.
- 6Figure faite avec un nombre pair d’objets qui consiste à lancer chacun à la même main.
- 7Tas de farine au centre duquel on fait un trou en vue d’y incorporer un liquide, un œuf, etc.
- 8Meuble représentant la construction du même nom dans les armoiries. Elle est généralement représentée selon la construction à laquelle elle fait référence (certains auteurs précisent alors dans le blasonnement qu’elle est du lieu). Elle est dite jaillissante quand les jets d’eau sont d'un autre émail.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffontaine,fnotaine,fonatine,fonntaine,fontaien,fontainne,fontanie,fontiane,fonttaine,fotnaine,ofntaine
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fontaine - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "fontaine"?
What does "fontaine" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “fontaine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is F-O-N-T-A-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \fɔ̃.tɛn\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “foraine” - see the side-by-side comparison. fontaine vs foraine
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.