Which to use
“fondations” and “foundation” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,317
- “fondations” frequency rank
- #19,547
- “foundation” frequency rank
- 28864
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondations | foundation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fondation. | Fond. |
Where the eye mixes fondations and foundation
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fondations with foundation
A purely visual mix-up. fondations (\fɔ̃.da.sjɔ̃\) and foundation (\faʊnˈdeɪ.ʃən\) 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 8 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fondations is recorded at frequency rank #9,317, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.da.sjɔ̃\. foundation is at rank #19,547, tagged as anoun, pronounced \faʊnˈdeɪ.ʃən\.
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 28864, this pair ranks #320,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fondations vs foundation
Shared letters: adfinot. Private to "fondations": s. Private to "foundation": u.
"fondations" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCC · "foundation" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fondations ← ffondations · fnodations · fodnations · fonadtions · fondaitons · fondatinos · fondationns · fondationss
- foundation ← ffoundation · fonudation · foudnation · founadtion · foundaiton · foundatino · foundationn · foundatoin
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fondations" and "foundation" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fondations" or "foundation" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondations" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foundation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondations" and "foundation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondation vs foundation". 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 #320,191 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.