Which to use
“fondu” is an adjective and “fondues” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,053
- “fondu” frequency rank
- #45,619
- “fondues” frequency rank
- 56672
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondu | fondues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Liquéfié. | Pluriel de fondue. |
Same sound, different letters: fondu vs fondues
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. fondu runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fondues's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: fondu vs fondues
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fondu and fondues carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fɔ̃.dy\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fondu” sits inside “fondues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56672, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fondu is recorded at frequency rank #11,053, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔ̃.dy\. 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 56672, this pair ranks #119,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fondu vs fondues
Shared letters: dfnou. Private to "fondu": -. Private to "fondues": es.
"fondu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fondues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fondu" and "fondues" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fondu" vs "fondues" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "fondu" / "fondues". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondu" 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 #119,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondu" 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 #119,629 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.