Which to use
“retournent” and “retournons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,552
- “retournent” frequency rank
- #39,507
- “retournons” frequency rank
- 54059
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retournent | retournons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retourner. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retourner. |
Where the eye mixes retournent and retournons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. retournent and retournons follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses retournent with retournons
A purely visual mix-up. retournent (\ʁə.tuʁn\) and retournons (\ʁə.tuʁ.nɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54059, 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\. retournons is at rank #39,507, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.nɔ̃\.
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 54059, this pair ranks #136,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retournent vs retournons
Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retournent": -. Private to "retournons": s.
"retournent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC · "retournons" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retournent ← ertournent · reoturnent · retorunent · retounrent · retourennt · retournennt · retournentt · retournetn
- retournons ← ertournons · reoturnons · retorunons · retounrons · retournnons · retournnos · retournonns · retournonss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retournent" for "retournons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "retournent" vs "retournons" - which ranks higher?
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 "retournent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retournons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #136,596 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retournent" and "retournons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retournées vs retournons". 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 #136,596 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.