retenir

\ʁət.niʁ\

/\ʁət.niʁ\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“retenir” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,565. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,565
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Garder par-devers soi ce qui est à un autre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-retenir · retenir · French

retenir · rank #3,565 · 10 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,565
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH remporté

Nearest frequency peer: remporté (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « retenir »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « retenir » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

retenir vs retenu
71% similar
retenir vs revenir
86% similar
retenir vs retenue
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for retenir
PropertyValue
Headwordretenir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ʁət.niʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#3,565
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « retenir »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).retenirse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « remporté » (#3,564), « répartition » (#3,566), « remplacement » (#3,563). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « retenir » est au #3,565. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around retenir (IPA \ʁət.niʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #3,565 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 18 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for retenir, with forms such as "ertenir", "reetnir", and "reteinr". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "retenu", "revenir", "retenue", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is retenir, spelled R-E-T-E-N-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Garder par-devers soi ce qui est à un autre.
  2. 2
    Garder toujours, conserver ce que l’on a, ne point s’en défaire, ne point s’en dessaisir.
  3. 3
    Se dit, dans ce sens, en parlant des habitudes, des qualités bonnes ou mauvaises que l’on n’a point perdues.
  4. 4
    Se souvenir, garder en mémoire.
  5. 5
    Réserver.
  6. 6
    Réserver un chiffre pour le joindre aux chiffres de la colonne suivante.
  7. 7
    Prélever, déduire d’une somme.
  8. 8
    S’assurer par précaution une personne, une chose.
  9. 9
    Arrêter, maintenir, faire demeurer.
  10. 10
    Saisir, tenir, pour empêcher un accident, une chute, ou pour s’opposer à une mauvaise action.
  11. 11
    Arrêter, contenir, ne pas laisser aller.
  12. 12
    Pour des chevaux de trait qui empêchent la voiture d’aller trop vite à une descente.
  13. 13
    Réprimer ; modérer ; empêcher de s’emporter.
  14. 14
    Mettre, imprimer, garder quelque chose dans sa mémoire.
  15. 15
    En parlant de la génération des animaux et signifie concevoir.
  16. 16
    S’arrêter avec effort.
  17. 17
    Ne pas satisfaire un besoin naturel
  18. 18
    Pour un cheval, qui ne veut pas se porter librement en avant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how retenir appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Retenir le bien d’autrui.
  2. Pourquoi retient-il mes papiers ?

This word in other languages

keep(English)retener(Español)einbehalten(Deutsch)reter(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ertenir
  • reetnir
  • reteinr
  • retenirr
  • retennir
  • retenri
  • retneir
  • rettenir
  • rretenir
  • rteenir

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of retenir - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ertenir2reetnir2reteinr2retenirr1retennir1retenri2retneir2rettenir1
Edit distance from "retenir"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "retenir"?
"retenir" is spelled R-E-T-E-N-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁət.niʁ\.
What does "retenir" mean?
As a verb, "retenir" means: Garder par-devers soi ce qui est à un autre.
What words are commonly confused with "retenir"?
"retenir" is commonly confused with "retenu", "revenir", "retenue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "retenir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "retenir" is \ʁət.niʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "retenir" come from?
"retenir" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "retenir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

refuser#3,562oubliez#3,554obtient#3,553Tunisie#3,577

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

terrains10 variantsassociés10 variantsaudience10 variantsfrancs10 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list