retournevsretournéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: retourne is a noun, retournée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set retourne and retournée apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
retourne
9 ch
retournée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

retourne and retournée form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. 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.

Frequency comparison

retourne#2,449
retournée#15,744

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retourne" and "retournée" be used interchangeably?
No, "retourne" and "retournée" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering retourne vs retournée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “retourne”; for an adjective, it's “retournée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “retourne” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list