Which to use
“retirée” is an adjective and “retirer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,475
- “retirée” frequency rank
- #2,448
- “retirer” frequency rank
- 13923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retirée | retirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de retiré. | Tirer à nouveau. |
Same sound, different letters: retirée vs retirer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. retirée (CVCVCVV) and retirer (CVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: retirée vs retirer
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: retirée and retirer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.ti.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retirée is recorded at frequency rank #11,475, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ti.ʁe\. retirer is at rank #2,448, tagged as averb, 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 13923, this pair ranks #398,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of retirée vs retirer
Shared letters: eirt. Private to "retirée": é. Private to "retirer": -.
"retirée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "retirer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retirer ← ertirer · reitrer · retierr · retirerr · retirre · retirrer · retrier · rettirer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retirée" for "retirer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "retirée" vs "retirer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "retirée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retirée" and "retirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retirée vs retirera". 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 #398,948 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.