retour
\ʁə.tuʁ\
The verdict
“retour” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #403 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #403
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tour en sens contraire.
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 | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʁə.tuʁ\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #403 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “retour” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for retour is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʁə.tuʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #403 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 19 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for retour, with forms such as "ertour", "reotur", and "retoru". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "rotor", "revoir", "rêveur", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is retour, spelled R-E-T-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1Tour en sens contraire.
- 2Action du cerf qui revient sur lui-même, c’est-à-dire sur les mêmes voies, pour les confondre et dérouter les chiens.
- 3Ruse, artifice.
- 4Action de revenir, de retourner.
- 5Contrecoup, d’une réaction résultant d’une émotion.
- 6Expulsion.
- 7Arrivée au lieu d’où l’on était parti.
- 8Rentrée dans un emploi.
- 9Choses qui reviennent.
- 10Maritime,
- 11Renvoi qui est fait d’un effet impayé, du lieu sur lequel il était tiré à celui d’où il a été tiré.
- 12Renvoi à l’éditeur des volumes qui ne sont pas vendus, et aussi de ces volumes mêmes.
- 13Encoignure d’un bâtiment, de l’angle formé par une partie de construction qui fait saillie en avant d’une autre.
- 14Profil d’un entablement, d’une corniche, etc., qui ressaute.
- 15du changement, de la vicissitude des affaires.
- 16Reconnaissance, réciprocité de sentiments, de services, etc.
- 17Réversion, du droit en vertu duquel les ascendants rentrent dans la possession des choses qu’ils ont données à leurs descendants, lorsque ceux-ci viennent à mourir sans enfants.
- 18Interprétation depuis une langue A vers une langue B, c’est à dire depuis une langue maternelle (ou langue utilisée comme langue cible en temps normal) vers une autre.
- 19Son ou images produits par un artiste et qui lui sont renvoyés immédiatement afin qu'il ait une meilleure perception de ce qu'il produit.
This word in other languages
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 - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "retour"?
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Using “retour”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is R-E-T-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʁə.tuʁ\ (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 French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.