refontevsréponseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,895
“refonte” frequency rank
#698
“réponse” frequency rank
14593
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refonte réponse
Definition Action de remettre à la fonte, en parlant spécialement des monnaies dont on fait de nouvelles espèces. Parole dite, ou acte effectué, en réaction à une question posée, une demande, ou à une déclaration, ou encore à un évènement.

Where the eye mixes refonte and réponse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
refonte
7 ch
réponse

Visual trap between refonte and réponse

A purely visual mix-up. refonte (\ʁə.fɔ̃t\) and réponse (\ʁe.pɔ̃s\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refonte is recorded at frequency rank #13,895, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fɔ̃t\. réponse is at rank #698, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃s\.

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 14593, this pair ranks #395,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of refonte vs réponse

Shared letters: enor. Private to "refonte": ft. Private to "réponse": psé.

"refonte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "réponse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refonteerfonte · reffonte · refnote · refonet · refonnte · refontte · refotne · reofnte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refonte" and "réponse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fɔ̃t\ versus \ʁe.pɔ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "refonte" vs "réponse" - which ranks higher?
"réponse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #698 in our French list, against #13,895 for "refonte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "refonte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réponse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #395,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refonte" and "réponse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refonte vs remonta". 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 #395,998 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