Which to use
“refuse” is a verb and “remué” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,013
- “refuse” frequency rank
- #45,277
- “remué” frequency rank
- 47290
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuse | remué |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. | Ému, touché. |
Where the eye mixes refuse and remué
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses refuse with remué
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refuse is \ʁə.fyz\ while remué is \ʁə.mɥe\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47290, 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\. remué is at rank #45,277, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.mɥe\.
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 47290, this pair ranks #188,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refuse vs remué
Shared letters: eru. Private to "refuse": fs. Private to "remué": mé.
"refuse" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "remué" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuse ← erfuse · reffuse · refsue · refues · refusse · reufse · rfeuse · rrefuse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refuse" for "remué" ever safe?
Frequency check: "refuse" vs "remué" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "refuse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "remué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #188,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuse" and "remué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rejoué vs remué". 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 #188,108 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.