Which to use
“retiennent” and “reviennent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,267
- “retiennent” frequency rank
- #5,604
- “reviennent” frequency rank
- 25871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retiennent | reviennent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de retenir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de revenir. |
Where the eye mixes retiennent and reviennent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. retiennent and reviennent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses retiennent with reviennent
A purely visual mix-up. retiennent (\ʁə.tjɛn\) and reviennent (\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 a single letter - t in “retiennent” becomes v in “reviennent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retiennent is recorded at frequency rank #20,267, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tjɛn\. reviennent is at rank #5,604, 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 25871, this pair ranks #338,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of retiennent vs reviennent
Shared letters: einrt. Private to "retiennent": -. Private to "reviennent": v.
"retiennent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC · "reviennent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retiennent ← ertiennent · reitennent · reteinnent · retienennt · retienent · retiennennt · retiennentt · retiennetn
- reviennent ← erviennent · reivennent · reveinnent · revienennt · revienent · reviennennt · reviennentt · reviennetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "retiennent" and "reviennent" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "retiennent" vs "reviennent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "retiennent" and "reviennent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "retiennent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reviennent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retiennent" and "reviennent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retienne vs retiennent". 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 #338,401 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.