Which to use
“répondaient” and “reposaient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,170
- “répondaient” frequency rank
- #47,571
- “reposaient” frequency rank
- 79741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | répondaient | reposaient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de répondre. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de reposer. |
Where the eye mixes répondaient and reposaient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: répondaient vs reposaient
A purely visual mix-up. répondaient (\ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ\) and reposaient (\ʁə.po.zɛ\) 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 79741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
répondaient is recorded at frequency rank #32,170, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ\. reposaient is at rank #47,571, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.po.zɛ\.
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 79741, this pair ranks #22,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of répondaient vs reposaient
Shared letters: aeinoprt. Private to "répondaient": dé. Private to "reposaient": s.
"répondaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVVCC · "reposaient" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- reposaient ← erposaient · reopsaient · repoasient · reposaeint · reposaiennt · reposaientt · reposaietn · reposainet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "répondaient" for "reposaient" ever safe?
Which is more common, "répondaient" or "reposaient"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "répondaient" and "reposaient" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "répondaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reposaient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "répondaient" and "reposaient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refusaient vs reposaient". 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 #22,614 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.