retiensvsrevientWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: retiens is a verb, revient is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“retiens” is a verb and “revient” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,395
“retiens” frequency rank
#1,209
“revient” frequency rank
11604
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retiens revient
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de retenir. Ce à quoi un objet fabriqué revient (voir les dérivés pour les seuls usages possibles).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set retiens and revient apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
retiens
7 ch
revient

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

retiens and revient form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11604, 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\. revient is at rank #1,209, tagged as anoun, 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 11604, this pair ranks #408,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

retiens#10,395
revient#1,209

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retiens" and "revient" be used interchangeably?
No, "retiens" and "revient" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering retiens vs revient

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “retiens”; for a noun, it's “revient”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “retiens” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list