Which to use
“répondre” and “retordre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #814
- “répondre” frequency rank
- #39,018
- “retordre” frequency rank
- 39832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | répondre | retordre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Donner une réponse à ce qui a été dit ou demandé. | Tordre de nouveau. |
Where the eye mixes répondre and retordre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. répondre and retordre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: répondre vs retordre
A purely visual mix-up. répondre (\ʁe.pɔ̃dʁ\) and retordre (\ʁə.tɔʁdʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39832, 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\. retordre is at rank #39,018, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tɔʁdʁ\.
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 39832, this pair ranks #245,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of répondre vs retordre
Shared letters: deor. Private to "répondre": npé. Private to "retordre": t.
"répondre" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV · "retordre" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- retordre ← ertordre · reotrdre · retodrre · retorddre · retorder · retordrre · retorrde · retorrdre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "répondre" for "retordre" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "répondre" or "retordre" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "répondre" and "retordre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "répondre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retordre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "répondre" and "retordre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retordre vs rétorqué". 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 #245,031 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.