fenduevsfonduesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“fendue” and “fondues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,811
“fendue” frequency rank
#45,619
“fondues” frequency rank
83430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fendue fondues
Definition Jeune fille, jeune femme. Pluriel de fondue.

Where the eye mixes fendue and fondues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fendue runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against fondues's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fendue
7 ch
fondues

Visual trap between fendue and fondues

A purely visual mix-up. fendue (\fɑ̃.dy\) and fondues (\fɔ̃.dy\) 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 83430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fendue is recorded at frequency rank #37,811, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɑ̃.dy\. fondues is at rank #45,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.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 83430, this pair ranks #14,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fendue vs fondues

Shared letters: defnu. Private to "fendue": -. Private to "fondues": os.

"fendue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "fondues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fendueefndue · fednue · fenddue · fendeu · fenndue · fenude · ffendue · fnedue
  • fonduesffondues · fnodues · fodnues · fonddues · fondeus · fonduess · fonduse · fonndues

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fendue" and "fondues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɑ̃.dy\ versus \fɔ̃.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fendue" vs "fondues" - which ranks higher?
"fendue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,811 in our French list, against #45,619 for "fondues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "fendue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fondues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fendue" and "fondues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondeurs vs fondues". 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 #14,855 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list