Which to use
“répond” and “réponds” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,755
- “répond” frequency rank
- #3,797
- “réponds” frequency rank
- 5552
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | répond | réponds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de répondre. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de répondre. |
Same sound, different letters: répond vs réponds
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. répond runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against réponds's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - répond and réponds
This is the hard kind. répond and réponds are pronounced identically (\ʁe.pɔ̃\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “répond” sits inside “réponds”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
répond is recorded at frequency rank #1,755, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃\. réponds is at rank #3,797, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃\.
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 5552, this pair ranks #428,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of répond vs réponds
Shared letters: dnopré. Private to "répond": -. Private to "réponds": s.
"répond" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "réponds" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "répond" for "réponds" ever safe?
Which is more common, "répond" or "réponds"?
After this comparison
"répond" and "réponds" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "répond" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "réponds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "répond" and "réponds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réponds vs rêvons". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #428,706 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.