refusantvsrefusonsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“refusant” and “refusons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,231
“refusant” frequency rank
#32,153
“refusons” frequency rank
41384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refusant refusons
Definition Participe présent de refuser. Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser.

Where the eye mixes refusant and refusons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
refusant
8 ch
refusons

Why the eye confuses refusant with refusons

A purely visual mix-up. refusant (\ʁə.fy.zɑ̃\) and refusons (\ʁə.fy.zɔ̃\) 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 41384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refusant is recorded at frequency rank #9,231, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fy.zɑ̃\. refusons is at rank #32,153, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fy.zɔ̃\.

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 41384, this pair ranks #233,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refusant vs refusons

Shared letters: efnrsu. Private to "refusant": at. Private to "refusons": o.

"refusant" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "refusons" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refusanterfusant · reffusant · refsuant · refuasnt · refusannt · refusantt · refusatn · refusnat
  • refusonserfusons · reffusons · refsuons · refuosns · refusnos · refusonns · refusonss · refusosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "refusant" and "refusons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fy.zɑ̃\ versus \ʁə.fy.zɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "refusant" or "refusons"?
"refusant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,231 in our French list, against #32,153 for "refusons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "refusant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refusons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refusant" and "refusons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refusons vs résumons". 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 #233,465 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list