Which to use
“fontes” is a noun and “forte” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,178
- “fontes” frequency rank
- #942
- “forte” frequency rank
- 47120
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fontes | forte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fourreau de cuir pour les pistolets. | Fort. Il se met, dans un morceau de musique, aux endroits où le son doit être renforcé. Le symbole : 𝆑. |
Where the eye mixes fontes and forte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fontes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against forte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fontes vs forte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fontes is \fɔ̃t\ while forte is \fɔʁ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fontes is recorded at frequency rank #46,178, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃t\. forte is at rank #942, tagged as anadv, pronounced \fɔʁ.te\.
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 47120, this pair ranks #189,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fontes vs forte
Shared letters: efot. Private to "fontes": ns. Private to "forte": r.
"fontes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "forte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fontes" for "forte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fontes" or "forte"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fontes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fontes" and "forte" 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 #189,421 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.