# reducing vs refusing

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### reducing
*verb · IPA /ɹɪˈdjuː.sɪŋ/ · frequency rank #3,901*
present participle and gerund of reduce

### refusing
*verb · IPA /ɹɪˈfjuːzɪŋ/ · frequency rank #7,273*
present participle and gerund of refuse

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reducing-vs-refusing