reçuesvsrefusWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: reçues is a adjective, refus is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reçues” is an adjective and “refus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,458
“reçues” frequency rank
#3,164
“refus” frequency rank
11622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reçues refus
Definition Féminin pluriel de reçu. Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set reçues and refus apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
reçues
5 ch
refus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reçues is \ʁə.sy\ while refus is \ʁə.fy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reçues is recorded at frequency rank #8,458, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.sy\. refus is at rank #3,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fy\.

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 11622, this pair ranks #408,456 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reçues vs refus

Shared letters: ersu. Private to "reçues": ç. Private to "refus": f.

"reçues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "refus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refuserfus · reffus · refsu · refuss · reufs · rfeus · rrefus

Frequency comparison

reçues#8,458
refus#3,164

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reçues" and "refus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reçues" is an adjective and "refus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reçues" or "refus"?
"refus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,164 in our French list, against #8,458 for "reçues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering reçues vs refus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “reçues”; for a noun, it's “refus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “reçues” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list