raflervsrefilerConfusable pair

Which to use

“rafler” and “refiler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,451
“rafler” frequency rank
#30,334
“refiler” frequency rank
70785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rafler refiler
Definition Emporter brutalement, sans rien laisser. Donner ou passer quelque chose à quelqu’un.

Where the eye mixes rafler and refiler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
rafler
7 ch
refiler

Look-alike desk: rafler vs refiler

A purely visual mix-up. rafler (\ʁa.fle\) and refiler (\ʁə.fi.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rafler is recorded at frequency rank #40,451, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁa.fle\. refiler is at rank #30,334, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fi.le\.

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 70785, this pair ranks #50,029 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rafler vs refiler

Shared letters: eflr. Private to "rafler": a. Private to "refiler": i.

"rafler" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "refiler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raflerarfler · rafelr · raffler · raflerr · rafller · raflre · ralfer · rfaler
  • refilererfiler · reffiler · refielr · refilerr · refiller · refilre · reflier · reifler

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rafler" and "refiler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁa.fle\ versus \ʁə.fi.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "rafler" vs "refiler" - which ranks higher?
"refiler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,334 in our French list, against #40,451 for "rafler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rafler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refiler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,029 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rafler" and "refiler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rafler vs râles". 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 #50,029 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list