Which to use
“fondé” is an adjective and “fontes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,259
- “fondé” frequency rank
- #46,178
- “fontes” frequency rank
- 49437
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondé | fontes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Justifié, qui s’appuie sur des faits. | Fourreau de cuir pour les pistolets. |
Where the eye mixes fondé and fontes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fondé runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fontes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fondé and fontes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fondé is \fɔ̃.de\ while fontes is \fɔ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49437, 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\. fontes is at rank #46,178, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃t\.
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 49437, this pair ranks #170,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fondé vs fontes
Shared letters: fno. Private to "fondé": dé. Private to "fontes": est.
"fondé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fontes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fontes ← ffontes · fnotes · fonets · fonntes · fontess · fontse · fonttes · fotnes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fondé" for "fontes" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fondé" or "fontes" 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 "fondé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fontes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondé" and "fontes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs fontes". 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 #170,680 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.