Which to use
“focus” is an adjective and “fondus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,412
- “focus” frequency rank
- #31,499
- “fondus” frequency rank
- 42911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | focus | fondus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Concentré sur l’action. | Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe fondre. |
Where the eye mixes focus and fondus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. focus runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against fondus's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between focus and fondus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: focus is \fɔ.kys\ while fondus is \fɔ̃.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
focus is recorded at frequency rank #11,412, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔ.kys\. fondus is at rank #31,499, tagged as averb, 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 42911, this pair ranks #221,979 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of focus vs fondus
Shared letters: fosu. Private to "focus": c. Private to "fondus": dn.
"focus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fondus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "focus" and "fondus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "focus" vs "fondus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "focus" and "fondus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "focus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,979 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "focus" and "fondus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondeurs vs fondus". 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 #221,979 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.