Which to use
“fondait” and “fondent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,049
- “fondait” frequency rank
- #14,262
- “fondent” frequency rank
- 59311
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondait | fondent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de fonder. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de fonder. |
Where the eye mixes fondait and fondent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fondait (CVCCVVC) and fondent (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: fondait vs fondent
A purely visual mix-up. fondait (\fɔ̃.dɛ\) and fondent (\fɔ̃d\) 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 59311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fondait is recorded at frequency rank #45,049, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃.dɛ\. fondent is at rank #14,262, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃d\.
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 59311, this pair ranks #103,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fondait vs fondent
Shared letters: dfnot. Private to "fondait": ai. Private to "fondent": e.
"fondait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "fondent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fondait" for "fondent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fondait" or "fondent" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #103,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondait" and "fondent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondait vs forçait". 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 #103,875 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.