répondezvsreposezWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,575
“répondez” frequency rank
#30,339
“reposez” frequency rank
40914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature répondez reposez
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de répondre. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de reposer.

Where the eye mixes répondez and reposez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. répondez runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against reposez's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
répondez
7 ch
reposez

Visual trap between répondez and reposez

A purely visual mix-up. répondez (\ʁe.pɔ̃.de\) and reposez (\ʁə.po.ze\) 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 40914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

répondez is recorded at frequency rank #10,575, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃.de\. reposez is at rank #30,339, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.po.ze\.

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 40914, this pair ranks #236,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of répondez vs reposez

Shared letters: eoprz. Private to "répondez": dné. Private to "reposez": s.

"répondez" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "reposez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reposez ← erposez · reopsez · repoesz · reposezz · repossez · reposze · repposez · repsoez

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "répondez" and "reposez" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.pɔ̃.de\ versus \ʁə.po.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "répondez" or "reposez" show up more?
"répondez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,575 in our French list, against #30,339 for "reposez". 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 "répondez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reposez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #236,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "répondez" and "reposez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reposera vs reposez". 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 #236,960 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