Which to use
“régions” is a noun and “retiens” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,421
- “régions” frequency rank
- #10,395
- “retiens” frequency rank
- 11816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | régions | retiens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de région. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de retenir. |
Where the eye mixes régions and retiens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. régions and retiens follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between régions and retiens
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: régions is \ʁe.ʒjɔ̃\ while retiens is \ʁə.tjɛ̃\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
régions is recorded at frequency rank #1,421, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ʒjɔ̃\. retiens is at rank #10,395, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tjɛ̃\.
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 11816, this pair ranks #407,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of régions vs retiens
Shared letters: inrs. Private to "régions": goé. Private to "retiens": et.
"régions" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC · "retiens" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retiens ← ertiens · reitens · reteins · retienns · retienss · retiesn · retines · rettiens
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "régions" for "retiens" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "régions" or "retiens" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "régions" and "retiens" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "régions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retiens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #407,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "régions" and "retiens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retienne vs retiens". 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 #407,682 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.