Which to use
“refusés” is an adjective and “réfuter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,595
- “refusés” frequency rank
- #25,119
- “réfuter” frequency rank
- 52714
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refusés | réfuter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de refusé. | 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 refusés and réfuter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. refusés and réfuter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between refusés and réfuter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: refusés is \ʁə.fy.ze\ while réfuter is \ʁe.fy.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52714, 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\. 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 52714, this pair ranks #145,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refusés vs réfuter
Shared letters: efrué. Private to "refusés": s. Private to "réfuter": t.
"refusés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "réfuter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "refusés" and "réfuter" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "refusés" vs "réfuter" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "refusés" and "réfuter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "refusés" 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 #145,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refusés" and "réfuter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refusés vs révisés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #145,803 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.