refusezvsreposezWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,714
“refusez” frequency rank
#30,339
“reposez” frequency rank
59053
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature refusez reposez
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de refuser. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de reposer.

Where the eye mixes refusez and reposez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. refusez and reposez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
refusez
7 ch
reposez

Visual trap between refusez and reposez

A purely visual mix-up. refusez (\ʁə.fy.ze\) and reposez (\ʁə.po.ze\) 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 59053, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

refusez is recorded at frequency rank #28,714, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fy.ze\. reposez is at rank #30,339, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.po.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 59053, this pair ranks #105,329 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of refusez vs reposez

Shared letters: ersz. Private to "refusez": fu. Private to "reposez": op.

"refusez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "reposez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • refusezerfusez · reffusez · refsuez · refuesz · refusezz · refussez · refusze · reufsez
  • reposezerposez · reopsez · repoesz · reposezz · repossez · reposze · repposez · repsoez

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "refusez" and "reposez" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.fy.ze\ versus \ʁə.po.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "refusez" vs "reposez" - which ranks higher?
"refusez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,714 in our French list, against #30,339 for "reposez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "refusez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reposez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #105,329 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "refusez" and "reposez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reposera vs reposez". 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 #105,329 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