retour
[ʁəˈtuːɐ̯]
The verdict
“retour” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #36,593 in German word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #36,593
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - zurück, wieder zum Ausgangspunkt oder in den Ausgangszustand
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | retour |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | [ʁəˈtuːɐ̯] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #36,593 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “retour” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for retour is 6 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ʁəˈtuːɐ̯]. Corpus data places it at rank #36,593 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "zurück, wieder zum Ausgangspunkt oder in den Ausgangszustand".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for retour, with forms such as "ertour", "reotur", and "retoru". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "Rotor", "Retter", "Rektor", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is retour, spelled R-E-T-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1zurück, wieder zum Ausgangspunkt oder in den Ausgangszustand
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ertour,reotur,retoru,retourr,rettour,retuor,rretour,rteour
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of retour - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “retour”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is R-E-T-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ʁəˈtuːɐ̯] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Rotor” - see the side-by-side comparison. retour vs Rotor
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.