Which to use
“respirent” and “réussirent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,113
- “respirent” frequency rank
- #39,030
- “réussirent” frequency rank
- 68143
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | respirent | réussirent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de respirer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de réussir. |
Where the eye mixes respirent and réussirent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. respirent runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against réussirent's 10 (CVVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses respirent with réussirent
A purely visual mix-up. respirent (\ʁɛs.piʁ\) and réussirent (\ʁe.y.siʁ\) 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 68143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
respirent is recorded at frequency rank #29,113, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɛs.piʁ\. réussirent is at rank #39,030, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.y.siʁ\.
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 68143, this pair ranks #60,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of respirent vs réussirent
Shared letters: einrst. Private to "respirent": p. Private to "réussirent": ué.
"respirent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC · "réussirent" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- respirent ← erspirent · repsirent · resiprent · respiernt · respirennt · respirentt · respiretn · respirnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "respirent" for "réussirent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "respirent" vs "réussirent" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "respirent" and "réussirent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "respirent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "réussirent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "respirent" and "réussirent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réussirent vs réussiront". 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 #60,368 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.