refilévsrefugeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: refilé is a verb, refuge is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“refilé” is a verb and “refuge” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,239
“refilé” frequency rank
#5,392
“refuge” frequency rank
40631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refilé refuge
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de refiler. Asile ; retraite ; lieu où l’on cherche un abri.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set refilé and refuge apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
refilé
6 ch
refuge

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refilé is \ʁə.fi.le\ while refuge is \ʁə.fyʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refilé is recorded at frequency rank #35,239, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fi.le\. refuge is at rank #5,392, 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 40631, this pair ranks #239,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refilé vs refuge

Shared letters: efr. Private to "refilé": ilé. Private to "refuge": gu.

"refilé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "refuge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refugeerfuge · reffuge · refgue · refueg · refugge · reufge · rfeuge · rrefuge

Frequency comparison

refilé#35,239
refuge#5,392

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refilé" and "refuge" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "refilé" is a verb and "refuge" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "refilé" or "refuge"?
"refuge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,392 in our French list, against #35,239 for "refilé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering refilé vs refuge

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “refilé”; for a noun, it's “refuge”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “refilé” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list