Which to use
“refuse” is a verb and “résumé” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,013
- “refuse” frequency rank
- #2,452
- “résumé” frequency rank
- 4465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuse | résumé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. | Ce qui résume un texte, un discours, un propos, etc. |
Where the eye mixes refuse and résumé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: refuse vs résumé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refuse is \ʁə.fyz\ while résumé is \ʁe.zy.me\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4465, 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\. résumé is at rank #2,452, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.zy.me\.
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 4465, this pair ranks #431,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of refuse vs résumé
Shared letters: rsu. Private to "refuse": ef. Private to "résumé": mé.
"refuse" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "résumé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuse ← erfuse · reffuse · refsue · refues · refusse · reufse · rfeuse · rrefuse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refuse" for "résumé" ever safe?
Frequency check: "refuse" vs "résumé" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "refuse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "résumé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuse" and "résumé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rébus vs refuse". 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 #431,544 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.