Which to use
“fons” and “fontes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,445
- “fons” frequency rank
- #46,178
- “fontes” frequency rank
- 89623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fons | fontes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fonds (patrimoine). | Fourreau de cuir pour les pistolets. |
Letter map: fons vs fontes
Shared letters muted; letters that set fons and fontes apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. fons runs 4 letters (CVCC) against fontes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Pair insight - fons / fontes
fons and fontes are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fons is recorded at frequency rank #43,445, classified as anoun. 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 89623, this pair ranks #5,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fons vs fontes
Shared letters: fnos. Private to "fons": -. Private to "fontes": et.
"fons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fontes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fons" and "fontes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fons" vs "fontes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fons" and "fontes".
- Full dictionary entry for "fons" 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 #5,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fons" 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 #5,587 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.