Which to use
“fondé” is an adjective and “fons” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,259
- “fondé” frequency rank
- #43,445
- “fons” frequency rank
- 46704
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondé | fons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Justifié, qui s’appuie sur des faits. | Fonds (patrimoine). |
Letter map: fondé vs fons
Shared letters muted; letters that set fondé and fons apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. fondé runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fons's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for fondé / fons
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fondé is anadjective and fonsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fondé is recorded at frequency rank #3,259, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔ̃.de\. fons is at rank #43,445, tagged as anoun.
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 46704, this pair ranks #192,798 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fondé vs fons
Shared letters: fno. Private to "fondé": dé. Private to "fons": s.
"fondé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fons ← ffons · fnos · fonns · fonss · fosn · ofns
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fondé" and "fons" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fondé" or "fons"?
After this comparison
You've compared "fondé" and "fons". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #192,798 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondé" and "fons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foins vs fons". 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 #192,798 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.