récupvsrefusWhat's the difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set récup and refus apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
récup
5 ch
refus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

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

Frequency comparison

récup#27,952
refus#3,164

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récup" and "refus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.kyp\ versus \ʁə.fy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "récup" or "refus"?
"refus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,164 in our French list, against #27,952 for "récup". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering récup vs refus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “récup” 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