respondanvsrespondíaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,709
“respondan” frequency rank
#16,969
“respondía” frequency rank
32678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature respondan respondía
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de responder. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de responder.

Where the eye mixes respondan and respondía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. respondan (CVCCVCCVC) and respondía (CVCCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
respondan
9 ch
respondía

Look-alike desk: respondan vs respondía

A purely visual mix-up. respondan ([resˈpõn̪d̪ãn]) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

respondan is recorded at frequency rank #15,709, classified as averb, pronounced [resˈpõn̪d̪ãn]. 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 32678, this pair ranks #200,748 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of respondan vs respondía

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

"respondan" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "respondía" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • respondan ← erspondan · repsondan · resopndan · respnodan · respodnan · responadn · respondann · responddan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "respondan" and "respondía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([resˈpõn̪d̪ãn] versus [respõn̪ˈd̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "respondan" vs "respondía" - which ranks higher?
"respondan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,709 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 "respondan" 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 #200,748 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "respondan" 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 #200,748 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