récentesvsretenterWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: récentes is a adjective, retenter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“récentes” is an adjective and “retenter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,395
“récentes” frequency rank
#38,016
“retenter” frequency rank
43411
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récentes retenter
Definition Féminin pluriel de récent. Tenter de nouveau, ressayer.

Where the eye mixes récentes and retenter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

8 ch
récentes
8 ch
retenter

Why the eye confuses récentes with retenter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: récentes is \ʁe.sɑ̃t\ while retenter is \ʁə.tɑ̃.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récentes is recorded at frequency rank #5,395, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.sɑ̃t\. retenter is at rank #38,016, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tɑ̃.te\.

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 43411, this pair ranks #218,262 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of récentes vs retenter

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "récentes": csé. Private to "retenter": -.

"récentes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "retenter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retenterertenter · reetnter · retenetr · retennter · retenterr · retentre · retentter · retetner

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "récentes" and "retenter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "récentes" is an adjective and "retenter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "récentes" or "retenter" show up more?
"récentes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,395 in our French list, against #38,016 for "retenter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "récentes" and "retenter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "récentes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retenter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #218,262 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "récentes" and "retenter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retenter vs retenti". 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 #218,262 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list