Which to use
“fortune” is a noun and “fortunée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,076
- “fortune” frequency rank
- #48,538
- “fortunée” frequency rank
- 51614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fortune | fortunée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hasard, chance. | Féminin singulier de fortuné. |
Where the eye mixes fortune and fortunée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fortune runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against fortunée's 8 (CVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fortune with fortunée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fortune is \fɔʁ.tyn\ while fortunée is \fɔʁ.ty.ne\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fortune is recorded at frequency rank #3,076, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁ.tyn\. fortunée is at rank #48,538, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ.ty.ne\.
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 51614, this pair ranks #153,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fortune vs fortunée
Shared letters: efnortu. Private to "fortune": -. Private to "fortunée": é.
"fortune" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "fortunée" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fortune ← ffortune · forrtune · fortnue · forttune · fortuen · fortunne · forutne · fotrune
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fortune" and "fortunée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fortune" or "fortunée" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fortune" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fortunée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fortune" and "fortunée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fortuite vs fortunée". 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 #153,706 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.