fondvsfoxTell them apart

Which to use

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

#518
“fond” frequency rank
#7,832
“fox” frequency rank
8350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fond fox
Definition Endroit le plus bas, le plus intérieur d’une chose creuse. Race de chien, abréviation de fox-terrier.

Where the eye mixes fond and fox

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fond
3 ch
fox

Visual trap between fond and fox

A purely visual mix-up. fond (\fɔ̃\) and fox (\fɔks\) 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 8350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fond is recorded at frequency rank #518, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃\. fox is at rank #7,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔks\.

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 8350, this pair ranks #420,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fond vs fox

Shared letters: fo. Private to "fond": dn. Private to "fox": x.

"fond" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fondffond · fnod · fodn · fondd · fonnd · ofnd

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fond" and "fox" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fɔ̃\ versus \fɔks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fond" vs "fox" - which ranks higher?
"fond" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #518 in our French list, against #7,832 for "fox". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "fox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #420,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fond" and "fox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fox". 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 #420,320 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