Which to use
“répondais” and “répondait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,489
- “répondais” frequency rank
- #13,253
- “répondait” frequency rank
- 38742
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | répondais | répondait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de répondre. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de répondre. |
Same sound, different letters: répondais vs répondait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. répondais and répondait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Same sound, different spelling - répondais / répondait
This is the hard kind. répondais and répondait are pronounced identically (\ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ\) 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 a single letter - s in “répondais” becomes t in “répondait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38742, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
répondais is recorded at frequency rank #25,489, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ\. répondait is at rank #13,253, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ\.
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 38742, this pair ranks #253,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of répondais vs répondait
Shared letters: adinopré. Private to "répondais": s. Private to "répondait": t.
"répondais" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "répondait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "répondais" and "répondait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "répondais" or "répondait" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "répondais" / "répondait". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "répondais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "répondait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #253,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "répondais" and "répondait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "répondais vs répondons". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #253,133 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.