Which to use
“refusées” is an adjective and “refusent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,240
- “refusées” frequency rank
- #5,915
- “refusent” frequency rank
- 41155
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refusées | refusent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de refusé. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. |
Where the eye mixes refusées and refusent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses refusées with refusent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refusées is \ʁə.fy.ze\ while refusent is \ʁə.fyz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refusées is recorded at frequency rank #35,240, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.fy.ze\. refusent is at rank #5,915, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fyz\.
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 41155, this pair ranks #235,218 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refusées vs refusent
Shared letters: efrsu. Private to "refusées": é. Private to "refusent": nt.
"refusées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "refusent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refusent ← erfusent · reffusent · refsuent · refuesnt · refusennt · refusentt · refusetn · refusnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "refusées" and "refusent" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "refusées" or "refusent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "refusées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refusent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #235,218 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refusées" and "refusent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réfugiées vs refusées". 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 #235,218 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.