Which to use
“fondement” and “fondements” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,245
- “fondement” frequency rank
- #11,052
- “fondements” frequency rank
- 19297
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondement | fondements |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Maçonnerie qui sert de base à un édifice ou à une construction, et qui se fait dans la terre jusqu’au rez-de-chaussée. | Pluriel de fondement. |
Same sound, different letters: fondement vs fondements
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. fondement runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against fondements's 10 (CVCCVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - fondement / fondements
This is the hard kind. fondement and fondements are pronounced identically (\fɔ̃d.mɑ̃\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “fondement” sits inside “fondements”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fondement is recorded at frequency rank #8,245, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃d.mɑ̃\. fondements is at rank #11,052, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃d.mɑ̃\.
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 19297, this pair ranks #373,954 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fondement vs fondements
Shared letters: defmnot. Private to "fondement": -. Private to "fondements": s.
"fondement" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC · "fondements" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fondement ← ffondement · fnodement · fodnement · fonddement · fondeemnt · fondemennt · fondementt · fondemetn
- fondements ← ffondements · fnodements · fodnements · fonddements · fondeemnts · fondemennts · fondemenst · fondementss
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fondement" and "fondements" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fondement" vs "fondements" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "fondement" / "fondements". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondements" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #373,954 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondement" and "fondements" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondements vs fondèrent". 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 #373,954 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.