respondavsrespondíaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“responda” and “respondía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,722
“responda” frequency rank
#16,969
“respondía” frequency rank
26691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature responda respondía
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de responder. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de responder.

Where the eye mixes responda and respondía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. responda runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against respondía's 9 (CVCCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
responda
9 ch
respondía

Visual trap between responda and respondía

A purely visual mix-up. responda ([resˈpõn̪d̪a]) and respondía ([respõn̪ˈd̪ia]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

responda is recorded at frequency rank #9,722, classified as averb, pronounced [resˈpõn̪d̪a]. respondía is at rank #16,969, tagged as averb, pronounced [respõn̪ˈd̪ia].

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 26691, this pair ranks #230,424 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of responda vs respondía

Shared letters: adenoprs. Private to "responda": -. Private to "respondía": í.

"responda" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "respondía" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • responda ← ersponda · repsonda · resopnda · respnoda · respodna · responad · respondda · responnda

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "responda" and "respondía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([resˈpõn̪d̪a] versus [respõn̪ˈd̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "responda" or "respondía"?
"responda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,722 in our Spanish list, against #16,969 for "respondía". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "responda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "respondía" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,424 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "responda" and "respondía" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "respondía vs respondiera". 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 #230,424 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list