Which to use
“référés” and “refuges” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,540
- “référés” frequency rank
- #20,836
- “refuges” frequency rank
- 58376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | référés | refuges |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de référé. | Pluriel de refuge. |
Where the eye mixes référés and refuges
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. référés and refuges follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: référés vs refuges
A purely visual mix-up. référés (\ʁe.fe.ʁe\) and refuges (\ʁə.fyʒ\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
référés is recorded at frequency rank #37,540, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.fe.ʁe\. refuges is at rank #20,836, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fyʒ\.
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 58376, this pair ranks #109,411 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of référés vs refuges
Shared letters: frs. Private to "référés": é. Private to "refuges": egu.
"référés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "refuges" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuges ← erfuges · reffuges · refgues · refuegs · refugess · refugges · refugse · reufges
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "référés" for "refuges" ever safe?
Frequency check: "référés" vs "refuges" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "référés" and "refuges" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "référés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refuges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,411 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "référés" and "refuges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "référés vs rêveries". 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 #109,411 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.