Which to use
“retiens” and “reviens” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,395
- “retiens” frequency rank
- #3,102
- “reviens” frequency rank
- 13497
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retiens | reviens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de retenir. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de revenir. |
Where the eye mixes retiens and reviens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. retiens and reviens follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses retiens with reviens
A purely visual mix-up. retiens (\ʁə.tjɛ̃\) and reviens (\ʁə.vjɛ̃\) 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 “retiens” becomes v in “reviens”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retiens is recorded at frequency rank #10,395, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tjɛ̃\. reviens is at rank #3,102, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.vjɛ̃\.
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 13497, this pair ranks #400,788 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of retiens vs reviens
Shared letters: einrs. Private to "retiens": t. Private to "reviens": v.
"retiens" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC · "reviens" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retiens" and "reviens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "retiens" vs "reviens" - 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 "retiens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reviens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,788 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retiens" and "reviens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "redeviens vs reviens". 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 #400,788 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.