réponsevsréponsesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#698
“réponse” frequency rank
#2,149
“réponses” frequency rank
2847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réponse réponses
Definition Parole dite, ou acte effectué, en réaction à une question posée, une demande, ou à une déclaration, ou encore à un évènement. Pluriel de réponse.

Same sound, different letters: réponse vs réponses

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. réponse runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against réponses's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
réponse
8 ch
réponses

Ear matches; page differs - réponse and réponses

This is the hard kind. réponse and réponses are pronounced identically (\ʁe.pɔ̃s\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “réponse” sits inside “réponses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réponse is recorded at frequency rank #698, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃s\. réponses is at rank #2,149, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃s\.

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 2847, this pair ranks #435,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of réponse vs réponses

Shared letters: enoprsé. Private to "réponse": -. Private to "réponses": -.

"réponse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "réponses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "réponse" and "réponses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁe.pɔ̃s\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "réponse" or "réponses"?
"réponse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #698 in our French list, against #2,149 for "réponses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "réponse" / "réponses". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réponse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réponses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #435,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réponse" and "réponses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réponse vs rêvons". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #435,360 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