répondevsrépondraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,789
“réponde” frequency rank
#14,356
“répondra” frequency rank
29145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réponde répondra
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de répondre. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de répondre.

Where the eye mixes réponde and répondra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. réponde runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against répondra's 8 (CVCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
réponde
8 ch
répondra

Why the eye confuses réponde with répondra

A purely visual mix-up. réponde (\ʁe.pɔ̃d\) and répondra (\ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁa\) 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 29145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réponde is recorded at frequency rank #14,789, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃d\. répondra is at rank #14,356, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁa\.

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 29145, this pair ranks #318,503 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of réponde vs répondra

Shared letters: dnopré. Private to "réponde": e. Private to "répondra": a.

"réponde" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "répondra" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "réponde" and "répondra" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.pɔ̃d\ versus \ʁe.pɔ̃.dʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "réponde" vs "répondra" - which ranks higher?
"répondra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,356 in our French list, against #14,789 for "réponde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réponde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "répondra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,503 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réponde" and "répondra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "répondra vs reposera". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #318,503 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