refouléevsrefuséeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,899
“refoulée” frequency rank
#13,896
“refusée” frequency rank
63795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refoulée refusée
Definition Féminin singulier de refoulé. Féminin singulier de refusé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set refoulée and refusée apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
refoulée
7 ch
refusée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. refoulée (\ʁə.fu.le\) and refusée (\ʁə.fy.ze\) 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 63795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refoulée is recorded at frequency rank #49,899, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.fu.le\. refusée is at rank #13,896, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.fy.ze\.

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 63795, this pair ranks #80,185 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of refoulée vs refusée

Shared letters: efrué. Private to "refoulée": lo. Private to "refusée": s.

"refoulée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVV  ·  "refusée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

refoulée#49,899
refusée#13,896

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refoulée" and "refusée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fu.le\ versus \ʁə.fy.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "refoulée" or "refusée"?
"refusée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,896 in our French list, against #49,899 for "refoulée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering refoulée vs refusée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “refoulée” 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