refilervsrefoulerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#30,334
“refiler” frequency rank
#32,152
“refouler” frequency rank
62486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refiler refouler
Definition Donner ou passer quelque chose à quelqu’un. Fouler (presser) de nouveau.

Where the eye mixes refiler and refouler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
refiler
8 ch
refouler

Why the eye confuses refiler with refouler

A purely visual mix-up. refiler (\ʁə.fi.le\) and refouler (\ʁə.fu.le\) 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 62486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refiler is recorded at frequency rank #30,334, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fi.le\. refouler is at rank #32,152, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fu.le\.

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 62486, this pair ranks #86,862 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of refiler vs refouler

Shared letters: eflr. Private to "refiler": i. Private to "refouler": ou.

"refiler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "refouler" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refilererfiler · reffiler · refielr · refilerr · refiller · refilre · reflier · reifler
  • refoulererfouler · reffouler · refoluer · refouelr · refoulerr · refouller · refoulre · refuoler

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refiler" and "refouler" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fi.le\ versus \ʁə.fu.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "refiler" vs "refouler" - which ranks higher?
"refiler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,334 in our French list, against #32,152 for "refouler". 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 "refiler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refouler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,862 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refiler" and "refouler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refoulée vs refouler". 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 #86,862 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