Which to use
“retiens” and “reviews” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,395
- “retiens” frequency rank
- #36,570
- “reviews” frequency rank
- 46965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retiens | reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de retenir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe review. |
Where the eye mixes retiens and reviews
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. retiens and reviews follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: retiens vs reviews
A purely visual mix-up. retiens (\ʁə.tjɛ̃\) and reviews (\ɹɪˈvjuːz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46965, 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\. reviews is at rank #36,570, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɹɪˈvjuːz\.
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 46965, this pair ranks #190,652 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retiens vs reviews
Shared letters: eirs. Private to "retiens": nt. Private to "reviews": vw.
"retiens" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC · "reviews" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retiens" and "reviews" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "retiens" vs "reviews" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "retiens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reviews" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,652 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retiens" and "reviews" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reviews vs révisés". 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 #190,652 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.