Which to use
“reflux” and “refus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,216
- “reflux” frequency rank
- #3,164
- “refus” frequency rank
- 30380
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reflux | refus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mouvement réglé de la mer qui se retire du rivage après le flux. | Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé. |
Where the eye mixes reflux and refus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: reflux vs refus
A purely visual mix-up. reflux (\ʁə.fly\) and refus (\ʁə.fy\) 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 30380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reflux is recorded at frequency rank #27,216, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fly\. refus is at rank #3,164, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fy\.
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 30380, this pair ranks #310,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of reflux vs refus
Shared letters: efru. Private to "reflux": lx. Private to "refus": s.
"reflux" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "refus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "reflux" and "refus" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "reflux" or "refus"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "reflux" and "refus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "reflux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reflux" and "refus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reflux vs rénaux". 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 #310,693 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.