Which to use
“refuse” and “refusez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,013
- “refuse” frequency rank
- #28,714
- “refusez” frequency rank
- 30727
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuse | refusez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. |
Where the eye mixes refuse and refusez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: refuse vs refusez
A purely visual mix-up. refuse (\ʁə.fyz\) and refusez (\ʁə.fy.ze\) 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 extra letter(s) - “refuse” sits inside “refusez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refuse is recorded at frequency rank #2,013, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fyz\. refusez is at rank #28,714, tagged as averb, 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 30727, this pair ranks #308,348 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refuse vs refusez
Shared letters: efrsu. Private to "refuse": -. Private to "refusez": z.
"refuse" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "refusez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "refuse" and "refusez" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "refuse" vs "refusez" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "refuse" and "refusez" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "refuse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refusez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #308,348 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuse" and "refusez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réduisez vs refusez". 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 #308,348 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.