redonnervsrefonderConfusable pair

Which to use

“redonner” and “refonder” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,066
“redonner” frequency rank
#44,682
“refonder” frequency rank
53748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature redonner refonder
Definition Donner de nouveau la même chose. Donner de nouvelles fondations à une entreprise, un pays, une ville...

Where the eye mixes redonner and refonder

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. redonner and refonder follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
redonner
8 ch
refonder

Look-alike desk: redonner vs refonder

A purely visual mix-up. redonner (\ʁə.dɔ.ne\) and refonder (\ʁə.fɔ̃.de\) 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 53748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

redonner is recorded at frequency rank #9,066, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.dɔ.ne\. refonder is at rank #44,682, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fɔ̃.de\.

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 53748, this pair ranks #138,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of redonner vs refonder

Shared letters: denor. Private to "redonner": -. Private to "refonder": f.

"redonner" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "refonder" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • redonner ← erdonner · rdeonner · reddonner · rednoner · redonenr · redoner · redonnerr · redonnre
  • refonder ← erfonder · reffonder · refnoder · refodner · refondder · refonderr · refondre · refonedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "redonner" and "refonder" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.dɔ.ne\ versus \ʁə.fɔ̃.de\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "redonner" vs "refonder" - which ranks higher?
"redonner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,066 in our French list, against #44,682 for "refonder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "redonner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refonder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "redonner" and "refonder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refonder vs refouler". 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 #138,644 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list