Which to use
“refuser” and “réfuter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,562
- “refuser” frequency rank
- #25,119
- “réfuter” frequency rank
- 28681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refuser | réfuter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rejeter une demande, ne pas accorder ce qui est demandé ; ne pas vouloir faire ce qui est exigé, prescrit, ordonné. | Combattre, détruire par des raisons convaincantes ce qu’un autre a avancé ; prouver que ce qu’un adversaire a dit est mal fondé ou n’est pas vrai. |
Where the eye mixes refuser and réfuter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses refuser with réfuter
A purely visual mix-up. refuser (\ʁə.fy.ze\) and réfuter (\ʁe.fy.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28681, 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\. réfuter is at rank #25,119, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.fy.te\.
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 28681, this pair ranks #321,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refuser vs réfuter
Shared letters: efru. Private to "refuser": s. Private to "réfuter": té.
"refuser" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "réfuter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuser ← erfuser · reffuser · refsuer · refuesr · refuserr · refusre · refusser · reufser
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "refuser" and "réfuter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "refuser" or "réfuter" 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 "refuser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "réfuter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #321,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refuser" and "réfuter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réfuter vs relater". 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 #321,346 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.