fondésvsfonduesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“fondés” and “fondues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,711
“fondés” frequency rank
#45,619
“fondues” frequency rank
63330
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fondés fondues
Definition Pluriel de fondé. Pluriel de fondue.

Where the eye mixes fondés and fondues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fondés runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against fondues's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fondés
7 ch
fondues

Why the eye confuses fondés with fondues

A purely visual mix-up. fondés (\fɔ̃.de\) and fondues (\fɔ̃.dy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fondés is recorded at frequency rank #17,711, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.de\. fondues is at rank #45,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.dy\.

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 63330, this pair ranks #82,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fondés vs fondues

Shared letters: dfnos. Private to "fondés": é. Private to "fondues": eu.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fonduesffondues · fnodues · fodnues · fonddues · fondeus · fonduess · fonduse · fonndues

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fondés" for "fondues" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fɔ̃.de\ versus \fɔ̃.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fondés" vs "fondues" - which ranks higher?
"fondés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,711 in our French list, against #45,619 for "fondues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fondés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fondues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #82,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fondés" and "fondues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondeurs vs fondues". 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 #82,493 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