Which to use
“fondée” and “fondées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,612
- “fondée” frequency rank
- #12,970
- “fondées” frequency rank
- 16582
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondée | fondées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin singulier de fonder. | Participe passé féminin pluriel de fonder. |
Same sound, different letters: fondée vs fondées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. fondée runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against fondées's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - fondée and fondées
This is the hard kind. fondée and fondées are pronounced identically (\fɔ̃.de\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fondée” sits inside “fondées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fondée is recorded at frequency rank #3,612, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃.de\. fondées is at rank #12,970, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃.de\.
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 16582, this pair ranks #387,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fondée vs fondées
Shared letters: defnoé. Private to "fondée": -. Private to "fondées": s.
"fondée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "fondées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fondée" and "fondées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fondée" or "fondées"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "fondée" / "fondées". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondée" and "fondées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondées vs fondeurs". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #387,172 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.