refusésvsrefusezConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#27,595
“refusés” frequency rank
#28,714
“refusez” frequency rank
56309
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refusés refusez
Definition Masculin pluriel de refusé. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser.

Same sound, different letters: refusés vs refusez

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.

7 ch
refusés
7 ch
refusez

Same sound, different spelling - refusés / refusez

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: refusés and refusez carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.fy.ze\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, 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 56309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refusés is recorded at frequency rank #27,595, classified as anadj, 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 56309, this pair ranks #121,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of refusés vs refusez

Shared letters: efrsu. Private to "refusés": é. Private to "refusez": z.

"refusés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "refusez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refusezerfusez · reffusez · refsuez · refuesz · refusezz · refussez · refusze · reufsez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "refusés" for "refusez" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "refusés" is an adjective and "refusez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "refusés" or "refusez"?
"refusés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,595 in our French list, against #28,714 for "refusez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "refusés" / "refusez". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "refusés" 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 #121,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refusés" 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 #121,904 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