Which to use
“foncée” is a noun and “fondées” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,943
- “foncée” frequency rank
- #12,970
- “fondées” frequency rank
- 34913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foncée | fondées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gradin dans les carrières d’ardoise. | Participe passé féminin pluriel de fonder. |
Where the eye mixes foncée and fondées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foncée runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against fondées's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between foncée and fondées
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foncée is \fɔ̃.se\ while fondées is \fɔ̃.de\. 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 34913, 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\. fondées is at rank #12,970, 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 34913, this pair ranks #280,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foncée vs fondées
Shared letters: efnoé. Private to "foncée": c. Private to "fondées": ds.
"foncée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "fondées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foncée" for "fondées" ever safe?
Which is more common, "foncée" or "fondées"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "foncée" and "fondées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foncée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foncée" and "fondées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foncée vs fronce". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #280,491 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.