Which to use
“retourner” and “retournez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,055
- “retourner” frequency rank
- #21,755
- “retournez” frequency rank
- 23810
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retourner | retournez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aller de nouveau en un lieu. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retourner. |
Same sound, different letters: retourner vs retournez
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. retourner and retournez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Ear matches; page differs - retourner and retournez
This is the hard kind. retourner and retournez are pronounced identically (\ʁə.tuʁ.ne\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - r in “retourner” becomes z in “retournez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23810, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retourner is recorded at frequency rank #2,055, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tuʁ.ne\. retournez is at rank #21,755, tagged as averb, 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 23810, this pair ranks #350,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of retourner vs retournez
Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retourner": -. Private to "retournez": z.
"retourner" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC · "retournez" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retourner" for "retournez" ever safe?
Frequency check: "retourner" vs "retournez" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "retourner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retournez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retourner" and "retournez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retournées vs retournez". 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 #350,320 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.