Which to use
“foncée” is a noun and “fondre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,943
- “foncée” frequency rank
- #7,829
- “fondre” frequency rank
- 29772
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foncée | fondre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gradin dans les carrières d’ardoise. | Liquéfier ou rendre fluide, au moyen de la chaleur, une substance plus ou moins solide. |
Where the eye mixes foncée and fondre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. foncée (CVCCVV) and fondre (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: foncée vs fondre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foncée is \fɔ̃.se\ while fondre is \fɔ̃dʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29772, 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\. fondre is at rank #7,829, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃dʁ\.
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 29772, this pair ranks #314,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foncée vs fondre
Shared letters: efno. Private to "foncée": cé. Private to "fondre": dr.
"foncée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "fondre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fondre ← ffondre · fnodre · fodnre · fonddre · fondrre · fonndre · fonrde · ofndre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foncée" and "fondre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "foncée" vs "fondre" - which ranks higher?
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 "foncée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foncée" and "fondre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foncée vs fronce". 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 #314,596 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.