refaisvsrefaiteConfusable pair

Quick tell: refais is a verb, refaite is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“refais” is a verb and “refaite” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,992
“refais” frequency rank
#27,594
“refaite” frequency rank
43586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refais refaite
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de refaire. Féminin singulier de refait.

Where the eye mixes refais and refaite

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

6 ch
refais
7 ch
refaite

Why the eye confuses refais with refaite

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refais is \ʁə.fɛ\ while refaite is \ʁə.fɛt\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refais is recorded at frequency rank #15,992, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fɛ\. refaite is at rank #27,594, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.fɛt\.

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 43586, this pair ranks #216,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refais vs refaite

Shared letters: aefir. Private to "refais": s. Private to "refaite": t.

"refais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "refaite" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refaiserfais · reafis · refaiss · refasi · reffais · refias · rfeais · rrefais
  • refaiteerfaite · reafite · refaiet · refaitte · refatie · reffaite · refiate · rfeaite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "refais" for "refaite" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "refais" is a verb and "refaite" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "refais" vs "refaite" - which ranks higher?
"refais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,992 in our French list, against #27,594 for "refaite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "refais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refaite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refais" and "refaite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refaite vs refaits". 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 #216,944 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