Which to use
“retourne” is a noun and “retournée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,449
- “retourne” frequency rank
- #15,744
- “retournée” frequency rank
- 18193
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retourne | retournée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Féminin singulier de retourné. |
Where the eye mixes retourne and retournée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. retourne runs 8 letters (CVCVVCCV) against retournée's 9 (CVCVVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between retourne and retournée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: retourne is \ʁə.tuʁn\ while retournée is \ʁə.tuʁ.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retourne is recorded at frequency rank #2,449, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁn\. retournée is at rank #15,744, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.ne\.
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 18193, this pair ranks #379,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of retourne vs retournée
Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retourne": -. Private to "retournée": é.
"retourne" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV · "retournée" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- retourne ← ertourne · reoturne · retorune · retounre · retouren · retournne · retourrne · rettourne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retourne" for "retournée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "retourne" or "retournée"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "retourne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retournée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #379,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retourne" and "retournée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retouchée vs retournée". 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 #379,537 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.