Which to use
“retournait” and “retournant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,869
- “retournait” frequency rank
- #22,401
- “retournant” frequency rank
- 56270
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retournait | retournant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de retourner. | Participe présent de retourner. |
Where the eye mixes retournait and retournant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. retournait (CVCVVCCVVC) and retournant (CVCVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between retournait and retournant
A purely visual mix-up. retournait (\ʁə.tuʁ.nɛ\) and retournant (\ʁə.tuʁ.nɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - i in “retournait” becomes n in “retournant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retournait is recorded at frequency rank #33,869, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.nɛ\. retournant is at rank #22,401, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.nɑ̃\.
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 56270, this pair ranks #122,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retournait vs retournant
Shared letters: aenortu. Private to "retournait": i. Private to "retournant": -.
"retournait" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVVC · "retournant" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retournait ← ertournait · reoturnait · retorunait · retounrait · retouranit · retournaitt · retournati · retourniat
- retournant ← ertournant · reoturnant · retorunant · retounrant · retourannt · retournannt · retournantt · retournatn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retournait" and "retournant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "retournait" or "retournant" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "retournait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retournant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #122,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retournait" and "retournant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retournant vs retournons". 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 #122,142 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.