Which to use
“retouchée” and “retoucher” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,160
- “retouchée” frequency rank
- #37,039
- “retoucher” frequency rank
- 85199
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retouchée | retoucher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin singulier de retoucher. | Toucher de nouveau. |
Same sound, different letters: retouchée vs retoucher
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. retouchée (CVCVVCCVV) and retoucher (CVCVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: retouchée vs retoucher
This is the hard kind. retouchée and retoucher are pronounced identically (\ʁə.tu.ʃe\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85199, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retouchée is recorded at frequency rank #48,160, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tu.ʃe\. retoucher is at rank #37,039, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tu.ʃe\.
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 85199, this pair ranks #11,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of retouchée vs retoucher
Shared letters: cehortu. Private to "retouchée": é. Private to "retoucher": -.
"retouchée" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVV · "retoucher" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retoucher ← ertoucher · reotucher · retocuher · retouccher · retoucehr · retoucherr · retouchher · retouchre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retouchée" for "retoucher" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "retouchée" or "retoucher" show up more?
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 "retouchée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retoucher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retouchée" and "retoucher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recoucher 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 #11,738 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.