referméevsrenfermerConfusable pair

Which to use

“refermée” and “renfermer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,139
“refermée” frequency rank
#48,153
“renfermer” frequency rank
92292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refermée renfermer
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de refermer. Enfermer de nouveau.

Where the eye mixes refermée and renfermer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. refermée runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVV) against renfermer's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
refermée
9 ch
renfermer

Visual trap between refermée and renfermer

A purely visual mix-up. refermée (\ʁə.fɛʁ.me\) and renfermer (\ʁɑ̃.fɛʁ.me\) 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 92292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refermée is recorded at frequency rank #44,139, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fɛʁ.me\. renfermer is at rank #48,153, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.fɛʁ.me\.

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 92292, this pair ranks #3,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of refermée vs renfermer

Shared letters: efmr. Private to "refermée": é. Private to "renfermer": n.

"refermée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "renfermer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • renfermer ← ernfermer · refnermer · renefrmer · renfemrer · renferemr · renfermerr · renfermmer · renfermre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refermée" and "renfermer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fɛʁ.me\ versus \ʁɑ̃.fɛʁ.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "refermée" or "renfermer"?
"refermée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,139 in our French list, against #48,153 for "renfermer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "refermée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "renfermer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refermée" and "renfermer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refermée vs réformées". 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 #3,116 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