Which to use
“foncée” is a noun and “foncent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,943
- “foncée” frequency rank
- #45,048
- “foncent” frequency rank
- 66991
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foncée | foncent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gradin dans les carrières d’ardoise. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de foncer. |
Where the eye mixes foncée and foncent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foncée with foncent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foncée is \fɔ̃.se\ while foncent is \fɔ̃s\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foncée is recorded at frequency rank #21,943, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.se\. foncent is at rank #45,048, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃s\.
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 66991, this pair ranks #65,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foncée vs foncent
Shared letters: cefno. Private to "foncée": é. Private to "foncent": t.
"foncée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "foncent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- foncent ← ffoncent · fnocent · focnent · fonccent · foncennt · foncentt · foncetn · foncnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foncée" for "foncent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foncée" vs "foncent" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foncée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foncent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foncée" and "foncent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foncées vs foncent". 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 #65,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.