Which to use
“refuge” and “résumé” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,193
- “refuge” frequency rank
- #35,924
- “résumé” frequency rank
- 44117
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuge | résumé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A state of safety, protection or shelter. | Alternative spelling of resume (“a summary, especially of employment history”). |
Where the eye mixes refuge and résumé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. refuge and résumé follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: refuge vs résumé
A purely visual mix-up. refuge (/ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/) and résumé (/ˈɹɛz.(j)ʊˌmeɪ/) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refuge is recorded at frequency rank #8,193, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/. résumé is at rank #35,924, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɛz.(j)ʊˌmeɪ/.
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 44117, this pair ranks #233,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refuge vs résumé
Shared letters: ru. Private to "refuge": efg. Private to "résumé": msé.
"refuge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "résumé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuge ← erfuge · reffuge · refgue · refueg · refugge · reufge · rfeuge · rrefuge
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refuge" for "résumé" ever safe?
Frequency check: "refuge" vs "résumé" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "refuge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "résumé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuge" and "résumé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "repute vs résumé". 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 #233,546 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.