Which to use
“rentré” is an adjective and “retiré” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,017
- “rentré” frequency rank
- #4,798
- “retiré” frequency rank
- 8815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rentré | retiré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Définition manquante ou à compléter. (Ajouter) | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe retirer. |
Where the eye mixes rentré and retiré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rentré (CVCCCV) and retiré (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: rentré vs retiré
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rentré is \ʁɑ̃.tʁe\ while retiré is \ʁə.ti.ʁe\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rentré is recorded at frequency rank #4,017, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.tʁe\. retiré is at rank #4,798, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ti.ʁe\.
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 8815, this pair ranks #418,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rentré vs retiré
Shared letters: erté. Private to "rentré": n. Private to "retiré": i.
"rentré" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "retiré" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rentré" for "retiré" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "rentré" or "retiré" 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 "rentré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retiré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,750 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rentré" and "retiré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retiré vs rôtir". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #418,750 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.