Which to use
“fendre” and “fondée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,490
- “fendre” frequency rank
- #3,612
- “fondée” frequency rank
- 35102
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fendre | fondée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Diviser, séparer, couper en long ou en large, ou de toute autre manière. | Participe passé féminin singulier de fonder. |
Where the eye mixes fendre and fondée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fendre (CVCCCV) and fondée (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fendre with fondée
A purely visual mix-up. fendre (\fɑ̃dʁ\) and fondée (\fɔ̃.de\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35102, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fendre is recorded at frequency rank #31,490, classified as averb, pronounced \fɑ̃dʁ\. fondée is at rank #3,612, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃.de\.
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 35102, this pair ranks #279,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fendre vs fondée
Shared letters: defn. Private to "fendre": r. Private to "fondée": oé.
"fendre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "fondée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fendre ← efndre · fednre · fenddre · fender · fendrre · fenndre · fenrde · ffendre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fendre" for "fondée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fendre" or "fondée" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fendre" and "fondée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #279,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fendre" and "fondée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fendre vs fendue". 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 #279,176 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.