Which to use
“refus” is a noun and “requis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,164
- “refus” frequency rank
- #6,549
- “requis” frequency rank
- 9713
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refus | requis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé. | D’une chose ou d’un concept : qui fait partie de conditions fixées par la loi ou un règlement. |
Where the eye mixes refus and requis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: refus vs requis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refus is \ʁə.fy\ while requis is \ʁə.ki\. 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 9713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refus is recorded at frequency rank #3,164, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fy\. requis is at rank #6,549, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ki\.
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 9713, this pair ranks #415,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of refus vs requis
Shared letters: ersu. Private to "refus": f. Private to "requis": iq.
"refus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "requis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refus" for "requis" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "refus" or "requis" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "refus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "requis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refus" and "requis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reis vs requis". 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 #415,689 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.