refus

Name: refus, French Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

\ʁə.fy\

/\ʁə.fy\/ noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“refus” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,164. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,164
frequency rank, French: 5,742
“R” headwords: 7
tracked misspellings: 20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé.

Corpus desk

Index FR-refus · refus · French

refus · rank #3,164 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

FREQ-COMMON #3,164
LEN-MID 5 letters
VOW-2 2 vowels
CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
VAR-MID 7 variants
BOOK-DENSE 5,742
PHOTO-FINISH ramener

Nearest frequency peer: ramener (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

priorité

96,840
probable

96,839
ramener

96,838
refus

96,837
rendent

96,836
richesse

96,835

What this shows « refus » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

refus vs res

60% similar

refus vs rus

60% similar

refus vs revu

60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for refus
Property	Value
Headword	refus
Language	French
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	\ʁə.fy\
Letters	5
Frequency rank	#3,164
Misspellings tracked	7
Confusable pairs	20
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « refus »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).refusse place ici:

#3,164

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « ramener » (#3,163), « rendent » (#3,165), « probable » (#3,162). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « refus » est au #3,164. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around refus (IPA \ʁə.fy\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,164 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for refus, with forms such as "erfus", "reffus", and "refsu". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "res", "rus", "revu", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is refus, spelled R-E-F-U-S.

Definition

1
Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé.
2
Action de rejeter, de ne pas accepter ce qui est offert.
3
Ensemble des éléments qui sont retenus par le tamisage.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how refus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

Depuis une dizaine d'années, à mesure que je les reçois par la poste, j'ai pour habitude de compiler les lettres de refus des maisons d'édition dans un élégant classeur couleur banane.
Opposer un refus.

This word in other languages

denial(English)Verweigerung(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

erfus
reffus
refsu
refuss
reufs
rfeus
rrefus

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of refus - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Edit distance from "refus"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "refus"?

"refus" is spelled R-E-F-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁə.fy\.

What does "refus" mean?

As a noun, "refus" means: Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé.

What words are commonly confused with "refus"?

"refus" is commonly confused with "res", "rus", "revu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "refus"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "refus" is \ʁə.fy\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "refus" come from?

"refus" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.

Is PlainSpell free to use?

Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "refus", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pitié#3,157 trump#3,173 odeur#3,154 aimez#3,179

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

assuré7 variants digne7 variants culte7 variants forum7 variants