refuseravsréfuterConfusable pair

Which to use

“refusera” and “réfuter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,323
“refusera” frequency rank
#25,119
“réfuter” frequency rank
53442
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refusera réfuter
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du futur de refuser. 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 refusera and réfuter

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

8 ch
refusera
7 ch
réfuter

Why the eye confuses refusera with réfuter

A purely visual mix-up. refusera (\ʁə.fy.zə.ʁa\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refusera is recorded at frequency rank #28,323, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fy.zə.ʁa\. 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 53442, this pair ranks #140,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refusera vs réfuter

Shared letters: efru. Private to "refusera": as. Private to "réfuter": .

"refusera" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "réfuter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refuseraerfusera · reffusera · refsuera · refuesra · refusear · refuserra · refusrea · refussera

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "refusera" for "réfuter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fy.zə.ʁa\ versus \ʁe.fy.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "refusera" or "réfuter"?
"réfuter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,119 in our French list, against #28,323 for "refusera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "refusera" 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 #140,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refusera" and "réfuter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refusera vs reposera". 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 #140,709 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