Which to use
“refrains” and “retraits” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,970
- “refrains” frequency rank
- #19,655
- “retraits” frequency rank
- 59625
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refrains | retraits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de refrain. | Pluriel de retrait. |
Where the eye mixes refrains and retraits
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. refrains and retraits follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: refrains vs retraits
A purely visual mix-up. refrains (\ʁə.fʁɛ̃\) and retraits (\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 59625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refrains is recorded at frequency rank #39,970, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fʁɛ̃\. retraits is at rank #19,655, 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 59625, this pair ranks #102,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of refrains vs retraits
Shared letters: aeirs. Private to "refrains": fn. Private to "retraits": t.
"refrains" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "retraits" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "refrains" and "retraits" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "refrains" or "retraits"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "refrains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retraits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #102,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refrains" and "retraits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refaits vs refrains". 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 #102,111 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.