Which to use
“refuges” and “réfugiée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,836
- “refuges” frequency rank
- #31,709
- “réfugiée” frequency rank
- 52545
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuges | réfugiée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de refuge. | Femme réfugiée. |
Where the eye mixes refuges and réfugiée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. refuges runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against réfugiée's 8 (CVCVCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: refuges vs réfugiée
A purely visual mix-up. refuges (\ʁə.fyʒ\) and réfugiée (\ʁe.fy.ʒje\) 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 52545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refuges is recorded at frequency rank #20,836, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fyʒ\. réfugiée is at rank #31,709, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.fy.ʒje\.
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 52545, this pair ranks #147,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refuges vs réfugiée
Shared letters: efgru. Private to "refuges": s. Private to "réfugiée": ié.
"refuges" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "réfugiée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuges ← erfuges · reffuges · refgues · refuegs · refugess · refugges · refugse · reufges
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refuges" for "réfugiée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "refuges" vs "réfugiée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "refuges" and "réfugiée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "refuges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "réfugiée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuges" and "réfugiée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réfugiée 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 #147,000 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.