Which to use
“fentes” and “fondés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,261
- “fentes” frequency rank
- #17,711
- “fondés” frequency rank
- 50972
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fentes | fondés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fente. | Pluriel de fondé. |
Where the eye mixes fentes and fondés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fentes and fondés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between fentes and fondés
A purely visual mix-up. fentes (\fɑ̃t\) and fondés (\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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fentes is recorded at frequency rank #33,261, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɑ̃t\. fondés is at rank #17,711, tagged as anoun, 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 50972, this pair ranks #158,558 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fentes vs fondés
Shared letters: fns. Private to "fentes": et. Private to "fondés": doé.
"fentes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fondés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fentes ← efntes · fenets · fenntes · fentess · fentse · fenttes · fetnes · ffentes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fentes" and "fondés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fentes" or "fondés"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fentes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,558 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fentes" and "fondés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fentes vs fontes". 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 #158,558 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.