refusentvsrefusésConfusable pair

Quick tell: refusent is a verb, refusés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“refusent” is a verb and “refusés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,915
“refusent” frequency rank
#27,595
“refusés” frequency rank
33510
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refusent refusés
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. Masculin pluriel de refusé.

Where the eye mixes refusent and refusés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

8 ch
refusent
7 ch
refusés

Why the eye confuses refusent with refusés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refusent is \ʁə.fyz\ while refusés is \ʁə.fy.ze\. 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 33510, 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\. refusés is at rank #27,595, tagged as anadj, 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 33510, this pair ranks #290,166 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refusent vs refusés

Shared letters: efrsu. Private to "refusent": nt. Private to "refusés": é.

"refusent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "refusés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refusenterfusent · reffusent · refsuent · refuesnt · refusennt · refusentt · refusetn · refusnet

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refusent" and "refusés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "refusent" is a verb and "refusés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "refusent" vs "refusés" - which ranks higher?
"refusent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,915 in our French list, against #27,595 for "refusés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "refusés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #290,166 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refusent" and "refusés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refusés vs révisés". 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 #290,166 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list