retirévsretiréesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: retiré is a verb, retirées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“retiré” is a verb and “retirées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,798
“retiré” frequency rank
#23,350
“retirées” frequency rank
28148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retiré retirées
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe retirer. Féminin pluriel de retiré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set retiré and retirées apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
retiré
8 ch
retirées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: retiré and retirées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.ti.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “retiré” sits inside “retirées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retiré is recorded at frequency rank #4,798, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ti.ʁe\. retirées is at rank #23,350, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ti.ʁe\.

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 28148, this pair ranks #324,619 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of retiré vs retirées

Shared letters: eirté. Private to "retiré": -. Private to "retirées": s.

"retiré" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "retirées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequency comparison

retiré#4,798
retirées#23,350

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retiré" and "retirées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "retiré" is a verb and "retirées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "retiré" or "retirées"?
"retiré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,798 in our French list, against #23,350 for "retirées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering retiré vs retirées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “retiré”; for an adjective, it's “retirées”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “retiré” 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