Which to use
“retombé” and “retombées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,330
- “retombé” frequency rank
- #15,485
- “retombées” frequency rank
- 43815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retombé | retombées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Façon dont un vêtement pend sur le bas du corps. | Retombées radioactives. |
Same sound, different letters: retombé vs retombées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. retombé runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against retombées's 9 (CVCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: retombé vs retombées
This is the hard kind. retombé and retombées are pronounced identically (\ʁə.tɔ̃.be\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “retombé” sits inside “retombées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retombé is recorded at frequency rank #28,330, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tɔ̃.be\. retombées is at rank #15,485, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tɔ̃.be\.
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 43815, this pair ranks #215,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retombé vs retombées
Shared letters: bemorté. Private to "retombé": -. Private to "retombées": s.
"retombé" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "retombées" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retombé" and "retombées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "retombé" or "retombées" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "retombé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retombées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retombé" and "retombées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retombé vs retombent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #215,182 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.