Which to use
“refuser” is a verb and “refusés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,562
- “refuser” frequency rank
- #27,595
- “refusés” frequency rank
- 31157
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuser | refusés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rejeter une demande, ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé ; ne pas vouloir faire ce qui est exigé, prescrit, ordonné. | Masculin pluriel de refusé. |
Same sound, different letters: refuser vs refusés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: refuser vs refusés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: refuser and refusés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.fy.ze\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refuser is recorded at frequency rank #3,562, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fy.ze\. 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 31157, this pair ranks #305,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refuser vs refusés
Shared letters: efrsu. Private to "refuser": -. Private to "refusés": é.
"refuser" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "refusés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuser ← erfuser · reffuser · refsuer · refuesr · refuserr · refusre · refusser · reufser
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refuser" for "refusés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "refuser" vs "refusés" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "refuser" 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 #305,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuser" 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 #305,614 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.