foncéesvsfondésConfusable pair

Which to use

“foncées” and “fondés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,951
“foncées” frequency rank
#17,711
“fondés” frequency rank
53662
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foncées fondés
Definition Pluriel de foncée. Pluriel de fondé.

Where the eye mixes foncées and fondés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foncées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against fondés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
foncées
6 ch
fondés

Visual trap between foncées and fondés

A purely visual mix-up. foncées (\fɔ̃.se\) and fondés (\fɔ̃.de\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foncées is recorded at frequency rank #35,951, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.se\. fondés is at rank #17,711, tagged as anoun, 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 53662, this pair ranks #139,243 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foncées vs fondés

Shared letters: fnosé. Private to "foncées": ce. Private to "fondés": d.

"foncées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "fondés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foncées" and "fondés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɔ̃.se\ versus \fɔ̃.de\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "foncées" or "fondés"?
"fondés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,711 in our French list, against #35,951 for "foncées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "foncées" and "fondés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foncées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fondés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #139,243 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foncées" and "fondés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foncées vs foulées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #139,243 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list