Which to use
“retouche” and “retourne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,331
- “retouche” frequency rank
- #2,449
- “retourne” frequency rank
- 30780
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retouche | retourne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de retoucher ou résultat de cette action. | Carte qu’on retourne à certains jeux, à la fin de la distribution, et qui détermine ordinairement l’atout. Dans certains jeux on dit virade. |
Where the eye mixes retouche and retourne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. retouche and retourne follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: retouche vs retourne
A purely visual mix-up. retouche (\ʁə.tuʃ\) and retourne (\ʁə.tuʁn\) 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 30780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retouche is recorded at frequency rank #28,331, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tuʃ\. retourne is at rank #2,449, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁn\.
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 30780, this pair ranks #308,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retouche vs retourne
Shared letters: eortu. Private to "retouche": ch. Private to "retourne": n.
"retouche" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV · "retourne" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retouche" for "retourne" ever safe?
Frequency check: "retouche" vs "retourne" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "retouche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retourne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #308,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retouche" and "retourne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retouche vs retouchée". 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 #308,036 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.