Which to use
“fond” and “ford” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #518
- “fond” frequency rank
- #4,941
- “ford” frequency rank
- 5459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fond | ford |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Endroit le plus bas, le plus intérieur d’une chose creuse. | Gué. |
Where the eye mixes fond and ford
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fond vs ford
A purely visual mix-up. fond (\fɔ̃\) and ford (\fɔːd\) 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 a single letter - n in “fond” becomes r in “ford”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fond is recorded at frequency rank #518, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃\. ford is at rank #4,941, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔːd\.
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 5459, this pair ranks #428,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fond vs ford
Shared letters: dfo. Private to "fond": n. Private to "ford": r.
"fond" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "ford" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fond" for "ford" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fond" vs "ford" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fond" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ford" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fond" and "ford" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ford vs FPR". 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 #428,956 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.