Which to use
“refusent” and “refusèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,915
- “refusent” frequency rank
- #42,572
- “refusèrent” frequency rank
- 48487
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refusent | refusèrent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de refuser. |
Where the eye mixes refusent and refusèrent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. refusent runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against refusèrent's 10 (CVCVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses refusent with refusèrent
A purely visual mix-up. refusent (\ʁə.fyz\) and refusèrent (\ʁə.fy.zɛʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refusent is recorded at frequency rank #5,915, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fyz\. refusèrent is at rank #42,572, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fy.zɛʁ\.
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 48487, this pair ranks #178,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refusent vs refusèrent
Shared letters: efnrstu. Private to "refusent": -. Private to "refusèrent": è.
"refusent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "refusèrent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refusent ← erfusent · reffusent · refsuent · refuesnt · refusennt · refusentt · refusetn · refusnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "refusent" and "refusèrent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "refusent" vs "refusèrent" - 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 "refusent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refusèrent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #178,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refusent" and "refusèrent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refuseraient vs refusèrent". 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 #178,506 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.