respondenvsrespondíaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,728
“responden” frequency rank
#16,969
“respondía” frequency rank
23697
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature responden respondía
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 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 responden and respondía

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. responden (CVCCVCCVC) and respondía (CVCCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
responden
9 ch
respondía

Why the eye confuses responden with respondía

A purely visual mix-up. responden ([resˈpõn̪d̪ẽn]) 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 23697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

responden is recorded at frequency rank #6,728, classified as averb, pronounced [resˈpõn̪d̪ẽn]. 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 23697, this pair ranks #244,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of responden vs respondía

Shared letters: denoprs. Private to "responden": -. Private to "respondía": aí.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • responden ← ersponden · repsonden · resopnden · respnoden · respodnen · respondden · respondenn · respondne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "responden" and "respondía" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([resˈpõn̪d̪ẽn] versus [respõn̪ˈd̪ia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "responden" vs "respondía" - which ranks higher?
"responden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,728 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "responden" 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 #244,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "responden" 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 #244,561 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