répondrevsreprendreTell them apart

Which to use

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

#814
“répondre” frequency rank
#1,674
“reprendre” frequency rank
2488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature répondre reprendre
Definition Donner une réponse à ce qui a été dit ou demandé. Prendre de nouveau.

Where the eye mixes répondre and reprendre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
répondre
9 ch
reprendre

Look-alike desk: répondre vs reprendre

A purely visual mix-up. répondre (\ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ\) and reprendre (\ʁə.pʁɑ̃dʁ\) 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 2488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

répondre is recorded at frequency rank #814, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ\. reprendre is at rank #1,674, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.pʁɑ̃dʁ\.

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 2488, this pair ranks #436,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of répondre vs reprendre

Shared letters: denpr. Private to "répondre": . Private to "reprendre": -.

"répondre" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "reprendre" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reprendreerprendre · reperndre · repprendre · reprednre · reprenddre · reprender · reprendrre · reprenndre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "répondre" and "reprendre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ\ versus \ʁə.pʁɑ̃dʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "répondre" or "reprendre"?
"répondre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #814 in our French list, against #1,674 for "reprendre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "répondre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reprendre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #436,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "répondre" and "reprendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reprendrai vs reprendre". 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 #436,044 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