retournevsristourneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“retourne” and “ristourne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,449
“retourne” frequency rank
#40,971
“ristourne” frequency rank
43420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retourne ristourne
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. Annulation d’un contrat d’assurance au profit de l’assureur.

Where the eye mixes retourne and ristourne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. retourne runs 8 letters (CVCVVCCV) against ristourne's 9 (CVCCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
retourne
9 ch
ristourne

Why the eye confuses retourne with ristourne

A purely visual mix-up. retourne (\ʁə.tuʁn\) and ristourne (\ʁis.tuʁn\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43420, 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\. ristourne is at rank #40,971, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁis.tuʁn\.

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 43420, this pair ranks #218,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of retourne vs ristourne

Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retourne": -. Private to "ristourne": is.

"retourne" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "ristourne" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retourne ← ertourne · reoturne · retorune · retounre · retouren · retournne · retourrne · rettourne
  • ristourne ← irstourne · risoturne · risstourne · ristorune · ristounre · ristouren · ristournne · ristourrne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "retourne" for "ristourne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.tuʁn\ versus \ʁis.tuʁn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "retourne" or "ristourne"?
"retourne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,449 in our French list, against #40,971 for "ristourne". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retourne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ristourne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #218,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retourne" and "ristourne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retourne vs retournées". 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 #218,191 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list