Which to use
“refais” and “restais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,992
- “refais” frequency rank
- #31,221
- “restais” frequency rank
- 47213
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refais | restais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de refaire. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rester. |
Where the eye mixes refais and restais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: refais vs restais
A purely visual mix-up. refais (\ʁə.fɛ\) and restais (\ʁɛs.tɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47213, 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\. restais is at rank #31,221, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛs.tɛ\.
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 47213, this pair ranks #188,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refais vs restais
Shared letters: aeirs. Private to "refais": f. Private to "restais": t.
"refais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "restais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "refais" and "restais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "refais" vs "restais" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "refais" and "restais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "refais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "restais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #188,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refais" and "restais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Resnais vs restais". 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 #188,665 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.