Which to use
“rendre” and “répondre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #514
- “rendre” frequency rank
- #814
- “répondre” frequency rank
- 1328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rendre | répondre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Remettre une chose entre les mains de celui à qui elle appartient, de quelque manière qu’on l’ait eue. | Donner une réponse à ce qui a été dit ou demandé. |
Where the eye mixes rendre and répondre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between rendre and répondre
A purely visual mix-up. rendre (\ʁɑ̃dʁ\) and répondre (\ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1328, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rendre is recorded at frequency rank #514, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃dʁ\. répondre is at rank #814, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ\.
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 1328, this pair ranks #438,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rendre vs répondre
Shared letters: denr. Private to "rendre": -. Private to "répondre": opé.
"rendre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "répondre" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- rendre ← erndre · rednre · renddre · render · rendrre · renndre · renrde · rnedre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rendre" for "répondre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "rendre" vs "répondre" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "répondre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rendre" and "répondre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "répondre vs retordre". 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 #438,257 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.