Which to use
“retira” and “rôtir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,349
- “retira” frequency rank
- #49,346
- “rôtir” frequency rank
- 72695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retira | rôtir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe retirer. | Faire cuire de la viande à un feu vif, de manière que le dessus soit croustillant et que l’intérieur reste tendre. |
Where the eye mixes retira and rôtir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. retira runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against rôtir's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: retira vs rôtir
A purely visual mix-up. retira (\ʁə.ti.ʁa\) and rôtir (\ʁo.tiʁ\) 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 72695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retira is recorded at frequency rank #23,349, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ti.ʁa\. rôtir is at rank #49,346, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁo.tiʁ\.
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 72695, this pair ranks #43,091 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of retira vs rôtir
Shared letters: irt. Private to "retira": ae. Private to "rôtir": ô.
"retira" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "rôtir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retira ← ertira · reitra · retiar · retirra · retria · rettira · rretira · rteira
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "retira" and "rôtir" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "retira" or "rôtir" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "retira" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rôtir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,091 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retira" and "rôtir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rotary vs rôtir". 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 #43,091 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.