Which to use
“refuge” and “refuges” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,392
- “refuge” frequency rank
- #20,836
- “refuges” frequency rank
- 26228
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuge | refuges |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Asile ; retraite ; lieu où l’on cherche un abri. | Pluriel de refuge. |
Same sound, different letters: refuge vs refuges
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. refuge runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against refuges's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - refuge / refuges
This is the hard kind. refuge and refuges are pronounced identically (\ʁə.fyʒ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “refuge” sits inside “refuges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26228, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refuge is recorded at frequency rank #5,392, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fyʒ\. refuges is at rank #20,836, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fyʒ\.
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 26228, this pair ranks #336,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of refuge vs refuges
Shared letters: efgru. Private to "refuge": -. Private to "refuges": s.
"refuge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "refuges" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refuge" for "refuges" ever safe?
Which is more common, "refuge" or "refuges"?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "refuge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refuges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuge" and "refuges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refuges vs réfugiées". 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 #336,343 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.