Which to use
“fondue” and “foudre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,956
- “fondue” frequency rank
- #7,830
- “foudre” frequency rank
- 25786
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fondue | foudre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mets à base de fromage fondu dans lequel on trempe des morceaux de pain. | Décharge électrique, par temps d’orage, entre des nuages et certaines fois entre des nuages et le sol, qui produit une vive lumière (dite éclair) et une violente détonation (dont le son est dit tonnerre). On dit, comme sur la photo, que la foudre est tombée quand elle a touché le sol ou quelque chose en relief sur le sol ou connecté au sol: arbre, construction, etc., a été touché. |
Where the eye mixes fondue and foudre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fondue (CVCCVV) and foudre (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fondue with foudre
A purely visual mix-up. fondue (\fɔ̃.dy\) and foudre (\fudʁ\) 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 25786, 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\. foudre is at rank #7,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fudʁ\.
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 25786, this pair ranks #338,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fondue vs foudre
Shared letters: defou. Private to "fondue": n. Private to "foudre": r.
"fondue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "foudre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fondue" and "foudre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fondue" or "foudre"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fondue" and "foudre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fondue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foudre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fondue" and "foudre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fondue 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 #338,856 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.