Which to use
“refuser” and “refusez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,562
- “refuser” frequency rank
- #28,714
- “refusez” frequency rank
- 32276
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuser | refusez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rejeter une demande, ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé ; ne pas vouloir faire ce qui est exigé, prescrit, ordonné. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. |
Same sound, different letters: refuser vs refusez
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - refuser / refusez
This is the hard kind. refuser and refusez are pronounced identically (\ʁə.fy.ze\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - r in “refuser” becomes z in “refusez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32276, 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\. refusez is at rank #28,714, tagged as averb, 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 32276, this pair ranks #298,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refuser vs refusez
Shared letters: efrsu. Private to "refuser": -. Private to "refusez": z.
"refuser" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "refusez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "refuser" and "refusez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "refuser" vs "refusez" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "refusez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #298,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuser" and "refusez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réduisez vs refusez". 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 #298,318 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.