Which to use
“foncée” and “fondue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,943
- “foncée” frequency rank
- #17,956
- “fondue” frequency rank
- 39899
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foncée | fondue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gradin dans les carrières d’ardoise. | Mets à base de fromage fondu dans lequel on trempe des morceaux de pain. |
Where the eye mixes foncée and fondue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. foncée and fondue follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses foncée with fondue
A purely visual mix-up. foncée (\fɔ̃.se\) and fondue (\fɔ̃.dy\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39899, 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\. fondue is at rank #17,956, tagged as anoun, 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 39899, this pair ranks #244,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foncée vs fondue
Shared letters: efno. Private to "foncée": cé. Private to "fondue": du.
"foncée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "fondue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fondue ← ffondue · fnodue · fodnue · fonddue · fondeu · fonndue · fonude · ofndue
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foncée" for "fondue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foncée" vs "fondue" - 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 "fondue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foncée" and "fondue" 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 #244,516 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.