Which to use
“retraitée” is a noun and “retraités” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,981
- “retraitée” frequency rank
- #7,893
- “retraités” frequency rank
- 47874
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | retraitée | retraités |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne à la retraite. | Masculin pluriel de retraité. |
Same sound, different letters: retraitée vs retraités
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. retraitée (CVCCVVCVV) and retraités (CVCCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - retraitée / retraités
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: retraitée and retraités carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.tʁɛ.te\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “retraitée” becomes s in “retraités”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
retraitée is recorded at frequency rank #39,981, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tʁɛ.te\. retraités is at rank #7,893, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.tʁɛ.te\.
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 47874, this pair ranks #183,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of retraitée vs retraités
Shared letters: aeirté. Private to "retraitée": -. Private to "retraités": s.
"retraitée" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVV · "retraités" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "retraitée" for "retraités" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "retraitée" or "retraités" show up more?
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 "retraitée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retraités" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "retraitée" and "retraités" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rétracter vs retraitée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #183,458 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.