réparévsrespiréTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,992
“réparé” frequency rank
#40,466
“respiré” frequency rank
57458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réparé respiré
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de réparer. Participe passé masculin singulier de respirer.

Where the eye mixes réparé and respiré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. réparé runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against respiré's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
réparé
7 ch
respiré

Why the eye confuses réparé with respiré

A purely visual mix-up. réparé (\ʁe.pa.ʁe\) and respiré (\ʁɛs.pi.ʁe\) 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 57458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réparé is recorded at frequency rank #16,992, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pa.ʁe\. respiré is at rank #40,466, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛs.pi.ʁe\.

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 57458, this pair ranks #114,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of réparé vs respiré

Shared letters: pré. Private to "réparé": a. Private to "respiré": eis.

"réparé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "respiré" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "réparé" for "respiré" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.pa.ʁe\ versus \ʁɛs.pi.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "réparé" or "respiré" show up more?
"réparé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,992 in our French list, against #40,466 for "respiré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "réparé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "respiré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réparé" and "respiré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réélire vs respiré". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #114,933 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