Which to use
“réfugiée” is a noun and “refusée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,709
- “réfugiée” frequency rank
- #13,896
- “refusée” frequency rank
- 45605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | réfugiée | refusée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme réfugiée. | Féminin singulier de refusé. |
Where the eye mixes réfugiée and refusée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. réfugiée runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVV) against refusée's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: réfugiée vs refusée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: réfugiée is \ʁe.fy.ʒje\ while refusée is \ʁə.fy.ze\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
réfugiée is recorded at frequency rank #31,709, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.fy.ʒje\. 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 45605, this pair ranks #201,436 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of réfugiée vs refusée
Shared letters: efrué. Private to "réfugiée": gi. Private to "refusée": s.
"réfugiée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVV · "refusée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "réfugiée" and "refusée" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "réfugiée" or "refusée" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "réfugiée" and "refusée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "réfugiée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refusée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,436 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "réfugiée" and "refusée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réfugiée vs réfugiées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #201,436 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.