Which to use
“relous” is an adjective and “retour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,989
- “relous” frequency rank
- #403
- “retour” frequency rank
- 47392
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | relous | retour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de relou. | Tour en sens contraire. |
Where the eye mixes relous and retour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses relous with retour
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: relous is \ʁə.lu\ while retour is \ʁə.tuʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
relous is recorded at frequency rank #46,989, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.lu\. retour is at rank #403, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ\.
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 47392, this pair ranks #187,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of relous vs retour
Shared letters: eoru. Private to "relous": ls. Private to "retour": t.
"relous" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "retour" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "relous" and "retour" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "relous" or "retour" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "relous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #187,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "relous" and "retour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rejoué vs relous". 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 #187,343 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.