retournentvsretournerontWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,552
“retournent” frequency rank
#45,841
“retourneront” frequency rank
60393
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retournent retourneront
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retourner. Troisième personne du pluriel du futur de retourner.

Where the eye mixes retournent and retourneront

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. retournent runs 10 letters (CVCVVCCVCC) against retourneront's 12 (CVCVVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
retournent
12 ch
retourneront

Why the eye confuses retournent with retourneront

A purely visual mix-up. retournent (\ʁə.tuʁn\) and retourneront (\ʁə.tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retournent is recorded at frequency rank #14,552, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁn\. retourneront is at rank #45,841, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃\.

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 60393, this pair ranks #97,840 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of retournent vs retourneront

Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retournent": -. Private to "retourneront": -.

"retournent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC  ·  "retourneront" · 12 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retournent ← ertournent · reoturnent · retorunent · retounrent · retourennt · retournennt · retournentt · retournetn
  • retourneront ← ertourneront · reoturneront · retoruneront · retounreront · retourenront · retourneornt · retournernot · retourneronnt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "retournent" and "retourneront" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.tuʁn\ versus \ʁə.tuʁ.nə.ʁɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "retournent" vs "retourneront" - which ranks higher?
"retournent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,552 in our French list, against #45,841 for "retourneront". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retournent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retourneront" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,840 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retournent" and "retourneront" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retournement vs retourneront". 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 #97,840 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