Which to use
“refugee” is a noun and “refused” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,383
- “refugee” frequency rank
- #2,806
- “refused” frequency rank
- 10189
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refugee | refused |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person seeking refuge (as for shelter or protection), especially in a foreign country, out of fear or prospect of political, religious persecution, war, natural disaster, etc. | simple past and past participle of refuse |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set refugee and refused apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
refugee and refused form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refugee is recorded at frequency rank #7,383, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹɛfjʊd͡ʒiː/. refused is at rank #2,806, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈfjuːzd/.
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 10189, this pair ranks #493,544 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "refugee" and "refused" be used interchangeably?
Remembering refugee vs refused
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “refugee”; for a verb, it's “refused”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “refugee” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable