Which to use
“refrain” and “retrait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,461
- “refrain” frequency rank
- #3,501
- “retrait” frequency rank
- 16962
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refrain | retrait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Un ou plusieurs mots qui se répètent à la fin de chaque couplet d’une chanson, d’une ballade, d’un rondeau, etc. | Action de retirer. |
Where the eye mixes refrain and retrait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses refrain with retrait
A purely visual mix-up. refrain (\ʁə.fʁɛ̃\) and retrait (\ʁə.tʁɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16962, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refrain is recorded at frequency rank #13,461, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fʁɛ̃\. retrait is at rank #3,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.tʁɛ\.
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 16962, this pair ranks #385,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of refrain vs retrait
Shared letters: aeir. Private to "refrain": fn. Private to "retrait": t.
"refrain" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "retrait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "refrain" and "retrait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "refrain" vs "retrait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "refrain" and "retrait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "refrain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retrait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refrain" and "retrait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "referai vs refrain". 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 #385,449 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.