Which to use
“respirer” and “respirez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,340
- “respirer” frequency rank
- #39,980
- “respirez” frequency rank
- 46320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | respirer | respirez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Amener l’air dans ses poumons, assimiler l’oxygène et rejeter du gaz carbonique. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de respirer. |
Where the eye mixes respirer and respirez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between respirer and respirez
A purely visual mix-up. respirer (\ʁes.pi.ʁe\) and respirez (\ʁɛs.pi.ʁe\) 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 a single letter - r in “respirer” becomes z in “respirez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
respirer is recorded at frequency rank #6,340, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁes.pi.ʁe\. respirez is at rank #39,980, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛs.pi.ʁe\.
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 46320, this pair ranks #195,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of respirer vs respirez
Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "respirer": -. Private to "respirez": z.
"respirer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "respirez" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "respirer" and "respirez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "respirer" or "respirez" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "respirer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "respirez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "respirer" and "respirez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "respirez vs resterez". 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 #195,894 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.