Which to use
“fend” is a verb and “fendu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,951
- “fend” frequency rank
- #27,435
- “fendu” frequency rank
- 56386
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fend | fendu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de fendre. | Qui présente une fente, une fêlure. |
Where the eye mixes fend and fendu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fend runs 4 letters (CVCC) against fendu's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fend vs fendu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fend is \fɑ̃\ while fendu is \fɑ̃.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fend” sits inside “fendu”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fend is recorded at frequency rank #28,951, classified as averb, pronounced \fɑ̃\. fendu is at rank #27,435, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɑ̃.dy\.
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 56386, this pair ranks #121,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fend vs fendu
Shared letters: defn. Private to "fend": -. Private to "fendu": u.
"fend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fendu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fend" for "fendu" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fend" or "fendu"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fendu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #121,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fend" and "fendu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fend". 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 #121,397 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.