Which to use
“recevons” and “retenons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,438
- “recevons” frequency rank
- #49,327
- “retenons” frequency rank
- 70765
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recevons | retenons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de recevoir. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de retenir. |
Where the eye mixes recevons and retenons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: recevons vs retenons
A purely visual mix-up. recevons (\ʁə.sə.vɔ̃\) and retenons (\ʁə.tə.nɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recevons is recorded at frequency rank #21,438, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.sə.vɔ̃\. retenons is at rank #49,327, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tə.nɔ̃\.
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 70765, this pair ranks #50,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recevons vs retenons
Shared letters: enors. Private to "recevons": cv. Private to "retenons": t.
"recevons" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "retenons" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recevons" and "retenons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "recevons" or "retenons"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recevons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retenons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recevons" and "retenons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "répétons vs retenons". 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 #50,108 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.