Which to use
“retournée” is an adjective and “retournent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,744
- “retournée” frequency rank
- #14,552
- “retournent” frequency rank
- 30296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retournée | retournent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de retourné. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retourner. |
Where the eye mixes retournée and retournent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. retournée runs 9 letters (CVCVVCCVV) against retournent's 10 (CVCVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between retournée and retournent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: retournée is \ʁə.tuʁ.ne\ while retournent is \ʁə.tuʁn\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retournée is recorded at frequency rank #15,744, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.ne\. retournent is at rank #14,552, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.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 30296, this pair ranks #311,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retournée vs retournent
Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retournée": é. Private to "retournent": -.
"retournée" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVV · "retournent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retournent ← ertournent · reoturnent · retorunent · retounrent · retourennt · retournennt · retournentt · retournetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "retournée" and "retournent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "retournée" vs "retournent" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "retournée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retournent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #311,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retournée" and "retournent" 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 #311,305 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.