Which to use
“récup” and “refus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,952
- “récup” frequency rank
- #3,164
- “refus” frequency rank
- 31116
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | récup | refus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Technique de restauration ou de création à partir d’objets anciens. | Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé. |
Where the eye mixes récup and refus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. récup and refus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: récup vs refus
A purely visual mix-up. récup (\ʁe.kyp\) and refus (\ʁə.fy\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
récup is recorded at frequency rank #27,952, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.kyp\. 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 31116, this pair ranks #305,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of récup vs refus
Shared letters: ru. Private to "récup": cpé. Private to "refus": efs.
"récup" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "refus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refus ← erfus · reffus · refsu · refuss · reufs · rfeus · rrefus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "récup" for "refus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "récup" vs "refus" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "récup" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #305,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "récup" and "refus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rébus vs récup". 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 #305,867 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.