retenusvsrevenuesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“retenus” and “revenues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,122
“retenus” frequency rank
#27,600
“revenues” frequency rank
38722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retenus revenues
Definition Masculin pluriel du participe passé du verbe retenir. Participe passé féminin pluriel de revenir.

Where the eye mixes retenus and revenues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. retenus runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against revenues's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
retenus
8 ch
revenues

Why the eye confuses retenus with revenues

A purely visual mix-up. retenus (\ʁət.ny\) and revenues (\ʁə.və.ny\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retenus is recorded at frequency rank #11,122, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁət.ny\. revenues is at rank #27,600, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.və.ny\.

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 38722, this pair ranks #253,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of retenus vs revenues

Shared letters: enrsu. Private to "retenus": t. Private to "revenues": v.

"retenus" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "revenues" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retenus ← ertenus · reetnus · retennus · retensu · retenuss · reteuns · retneus · rettenus
  • revenues ← ervenues · reevnues · reveneus · revennues · revenuess · revenuse · reveunes · revneues

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retenus" and "revenues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁət.ny\ versus \ʁə.və.ny\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "retenus" or "revenues"?
"retenus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,122 in our French list, against #27,600 for "revenues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retenus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "revenues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retenus" and "revenues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "revenues vs revêtue". 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 #253,275 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list