réponsevsreposWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#698
“réponse” frequency rank
#2,894
“repos” frequency rank
3592
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réponse repos
Definition Parole dite, ou acte effectué, en réaction à une question posée, une demande, ou à une déclaration, ou encore à un évènement. Privation, cessation de mouvement, d’activité ou d’effort.

Where the eye mixes réponse and repos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. réponse runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against repos's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
réponse
5 ch
repos

Look-alike desk: réponse vs repos

A purely visual mix-up. réponse (\ʁe.pɔ̃s\) and repos (\ʁə.po\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3592, 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\. repos is at rank #2,894, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.po\.

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 3592, this pair ranks #433,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of réponse vs repos

Shared letters: eoprs. Private to "réponse": né. Private to "repos": -.

"réponse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "repos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • repos ← erpos · reops · reposs · reppos · repso · rpeos · rrepos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "réponse" and "repos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.pɔ̃s\ versus \ʁə.po\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "réponse" or "repos"?
"réponse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #698 in our French list, against #2,894 for "repos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "réponse" and "repos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réponse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "repos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #433,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réponse" and "repos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reis vs repos". 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 #433,660 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