fondéesvsfondésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fondées is a verb, fondés is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fondées” is a verb and “fondés” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,970
“fondées” frequency rank
#17,711
“fondés” frequency rank
30681
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fondées fondés
Definition Participe passé féminin pluriel de fonder. Pluriel de fondé.

Same sound, different letters: fondées vs fondés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. fondées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against fondés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
fondées
6 ch
fondés

Homophone desk: fondées vs fondés

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fondées and fondés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fɔ̃.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fondées is recorded at frequency rank #12,970, classified as averb, pronounced \fɔ̃.de\. fondés is at rank #17,711, tagged as anoun, 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 30681, this pair ranks #308,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fondées vs fondés

Shared letters: dfnosé. Private to "fondées": e. Private to "fondés": -.

"fondées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "fondés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fondées" and "fondés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fondées" is a verb and "fondés" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fondées" vs "fondés" - which ranks higher?
"fondées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,970 in our French list, against #17,711 for "fondés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"fondées" and "fondés" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fondées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fondés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #308,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fondées" and "fondés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondés vs fondeurs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #308,662 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list