Which to use
“retournés” is an adjective and “retournez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,550
- “retournés” frequency rank
- #21,755
- “retournez” frequency rank
- 42305
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retournés | retournez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de retourné. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retourner. |
Same sound, different letters: retournés vs retournez
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. retournés 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 - retournés and retournez
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: retournés and retournez carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.tuʁ.ne\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retournés is recorded at frequency rank #20,550, classified as anadj, 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 42305, this pair ranks #226,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retournés vs retournez
Shared letters: enortu. Private to "retournés": sé. Private to "retournez": z.
"retournés" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC · "retournez" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- retournez ← ertournez · reoturnez · retorunez · retounrez · retourenz · retournezz · retournnez · retournze
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retournés" for "retournez" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "retournés" or "retournez" show up more?
What to do next
"retournés" and "retournez" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "retournés" 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 #226,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retournés" 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 #226,616 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.