retiennevsreviennesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#42,011
“retienne” frequency rank
#43,121
“reviennes” frequency rank
85132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retienne reviennes
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de retenir. Deuxième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de revenir.

Where the eye mixes retienne and reviennes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. retienne runs 8 letters (CVCVVCCV) against reviennes's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
retienne
9 ch
reviennes

Visual trap between retienne and reviennes

A purely visual mix-up. retienne (\ʁə.tjɛn\) and reviennes (\ʁə.vjɛn\) 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 85132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retienne is recorded at frequency rank #42,011, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tjɛn\. reviennes is at rank #43,121, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.vjɛn\.

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 85132, this pair ranks #11,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of retienne vs reviennes

Shared letters: einr. Private to "retienne": t. Private to "reviennes": sv.

"retienne" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "reviennes" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retienneertienne · reitenne · reteinne · retiene · retienen · retinene · rettienne · rretienne
  • revienneserviennes · reivennes · reveinnes · revienens · revienes · revienness · reviennse · revinenes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "retienne" for "reviennes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.tjɛn\ versus \ʁə.vjɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "retienne" or "reviennes"?
"retienne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,011 in our French list, against #43,121 for "reviennes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retienne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reviennes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retienne" and "reviennes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réticente vs retienne". 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 #11,823 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