fondésvsfontesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,711
“fondés” frequency rank
#46,178
“fontes” frequency rank
63889
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fondés fontes
Definition Pluriel de fondé. Fourreau de cuir pour les pistolets.

Where the eye mixes fondés and fontes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fondés and fontes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
fondés
6 ch
fontes

Visual trap between fondés and fontes

A purely visual mix-up. fondés (\fɔ̃.de\) and fontes (\fɔ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63889, 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\. 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 63889, this pair ranks #79,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fondés vs fontes

Shared letters: fnos. Private to "fondés": dé. Private to "fontes": et.

"fondés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "fontes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fontes ← ffontes · fnotes · fonets · fonntes · fontess · fontse · fonttes · fotnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fondés" for "fontes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fɔ̃.de\ versus \fɔ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fondés" vs "fontes" - which ranks higher?
"fondés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,711 in our French list, against #46,178 for "fontes". 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 "fontes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fondés" 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 #79,720 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