Which to use
“retenait” and “revenait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,724
- “retenait” frequency rank
- #10,573
- “revenait” frequency rank
- 45297
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retenait | revenait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de retenir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de revenir. |
Where the eye mixes retenait and revenait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. retenait and revenait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: retenait vs revenait
A purely visual mix-up. retenait (\ʁə.tə.nɛ\) and revenait (\ʁə.və.nɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - t in “retenait” becomes v in “revenait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retenait is recorded at frequency rank #34,724, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tə.nɛ\. revenait is at rank #10,573, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.və.nɛ\.
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 45297, this pair ranks #203,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retenait vs revenait
Shared letters: aeinrt. Private to "retenait": -. Private to "revenait": v.
"retenait" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "revenait" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retenait" for "revenait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "retenait" vs "revenait" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "retenait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "revenait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #203,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retenait" and "revenait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rejetait vs retenait". 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 #203,841 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.