réponsevsreposéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#698
“réponse” frequency rank
#38,012
“reposée” frequency rank
38710
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réponse reposée
Definition Parole dite, ou acte effectué, en réaction à une question posée, une demande, ou à une déclaration, ou encore à un évènement. Lieu où une bête sauvage se repose.

Where the eye mixes réponse and reposée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. réponse (CVCVCCV) and reposée (CVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
réponse
7 ch
reposée

Visual trap between réponse and reposée

A purely visual mix-up. réponse (\ʁe.pɔ̃s\) and reposée (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38710, 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\. reposée is at rank #38,012, tagged as anoun, 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 38710, this pair ranks #253,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of réponse vs reposée

Shared letters: eoprsé. Private to "réponse": n. Private to "reposée": -.

"réponse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "reposée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "réponse" for "reposée" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.pɔ̃s\ versus \ʁə.po.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "réponse" vs "reposée" - which ranks higher?
"réponse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #698 in our French list, against #38,012 for "reposée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réponse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reposée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réponse" and "reposée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reposée vs reposera". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #253,359 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