Which to use
“responde” and “respondía” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,366
- “responde” frequency rank
- #16,969
- “respondía” frequency rank
- 19335
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | responde | respondía |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de responder. | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de responder. |
Where the eye mixes responde and respondía
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. responde 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.
Look-alike desk: responde vs respondía
A purely visual mix-up. responde ([resˈpõn̪d̪e]) 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 19335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
responde is recorded at frequency rank #2,366, classified as averb, pronounced [resˈpõn̪d̪e]. 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 19335, this pair ranks #264,214 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of responde vs respondía
Shared letters: denoprs. Private to "responde": -. Private to "respondía": aí.
"responde" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "respondía" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- responde ← ersponde · repsonde · resopnde · respnode · respodne · respondde · responed · responnde
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "responde" and "respondía" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "responde" or "respondía"?
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 "responde" 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 #264,214 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "responde" 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 #264,214 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.