Which to use
“retenez” and “revenez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,139
- “retenez” frequency rank
- #17,550
- “revenez” frequency rank
- 36689
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retenez | revenez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de retenir. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de revenir. |
Where the eye mixes retenez and revenez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. retenez and revenez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses retenez with revenez
A purely visual mix-up. retenez (\ʁə.tə.ne\) and revenez (\ʁə.və.ne\) 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 “retenez” becomes v in “revenez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retenez is recorded at frequency rank #19,139, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tə.ne\. revenez is at rank #17,550, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.və.ne\.
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 36689, this pair ranks #267,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retenez vs revenez
Shared letters: enrz. Private to "retenez": t. Private to "revenez": v.
"retenez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "revenez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retenez" and "revenez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "retenez" or "revenez" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "retenez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "revenez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #267,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retenez" and "revenez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "resterez vs retenez". 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 #267,803 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.