Which to use
“reculés” and “refusés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,432
- “reculés” frequency rank
- #27,595
- “refusés” frequency rank
- 61027
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reculés | refusés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de reculé. | Masculin pluriel de refusé. |
Where the eye mixes reculés and refusés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. reculés and refusés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between reculés and refusés
A purely visual mix-up. reculés (\ʁə.ky.le\) and refusés (\ʁə.fy.ze\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reculés is recorded at frequency rank #33,432, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ky.le\. refusés is at rank #27,595, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.fy.ze\.
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 61027, this pair ranks #94,470 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of reculés vs refusés
Shared letters: ersué. Private to "reculés": cl. Private to "refusés": f.
"reculés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "refusés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reculés" for "refusés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "reculés" vs "refusés" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "reculés" and "refusés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "reculés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refusés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,470 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reculés" and "refusés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reculés vs rénales". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #94,470 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.