Which to use
“fond” and “foo” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #518
- “fond” frequency rank
- #43,447
- “foo” frequency rank
- 43965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fond | foo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Endroit le plus bas, le plus intérieur d’une chose creuse. | Variable métasyntaxique en programmation informatique. |
Where the eye mixes fond and foo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fond with foo
A purely visual mix-up. fond (\fɔ̃\) and foo (\fu\) 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 43965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fond is recorded at frequency rank #518, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃\. foo is at rank #43,447, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fu\.
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 43965, this pair ranks #214,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fond vs foo
Shared letters: fo. Private to "fond": dn. Private to "foo": -.
"fond" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "foo" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fond ← ffond · fnod · fodn · fondd · fonnd · ofnd
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fond" for "foo" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fond" vs "foo" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fond" and "foo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fond" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fond" and "foo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs foo". 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 #214,039 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.