Which to use
“fondue” is a noun and “fondus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,956
- “fondue” frequency rank
- #31,499
- “fondus” frequency rank
- 49455
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondue | fondus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mets à base de fromage fondu dans lequel on trempe des morceaux de pain. | Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe fondre. |
Same sound, different letters: fondue vs fondus
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. fondue (CVCCVV) and fondus (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - fondue and fondus
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fondue and fondus carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fɔ̃.dy\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “fondue” becomes s in “fondus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fondue is recorded at frequency rank #17,956, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.dy\. fondus is at rank #31,499, tagged as averb, 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 49455, this pair ranks #170,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fondue vs fondus
Shared letters: dfnou. Private to "fondue": e. Private to "fondus": s.
"fondue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "fondus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fondue" and "fondus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fondue" vs "fondus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"fondue" and "fondus" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fondus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondue" and "fondus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondeurs vs fondus". 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 #170,526 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.