Which to use
“retournant” and “retournons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,401
- “retournant” frequency rank
- #39,507
- “retournons” frequency rank
- 61908
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retournant | retournons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe présent de retourner. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retourner. |
Where the eye mixes retournant and retournons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. retournant and retournons follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between retournant and retournons
A purely visual mix-up. retournant (\ʁə.tuʁ.nɑ̃\) and retournons (\ʁə.tuʁ.nɔ̃\) 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 61908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retournant is recorded at frequency rank #22,401, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.nɑ̃\. retournons is at rank #39,507, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.nɔ̃\.
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 61908, this pair ranks #89,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of retournant vs retournons
Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retournant": a. Private to "retournons": s.
"retournant" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC · "retournons" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retournant ← ertournant · reoturnant · retorunant · retounrant · retourannt · retournannt · retournantt · retournatn
- retournons ← ertournons · reoturnons · retorunons · retounrons · retournnons · retournnos · retournonns · retournonss
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retournant" and "retournons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "retournant" or "retournons"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "retournant" and "retournons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "retournant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retournons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retournant" and "retournons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retournées 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 #89,811 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.