Stress-shift pair
"Refuse" is pronounced two ways depending on whether it is a noun or a verb. As a noun it is REF-yoos, with the stress on the first syllable; as a verb it is rih-FYOOZ, with the stress on the second. The spelling never changes — only which syllable you emphasise.
noun
REF-yoos
trash or waste
“Put the refuse in the bin.”
verb
rih-FYOOZ
to decline or say no
“I refuse to give up.”
Each button speaks the respelling, not the spelling — otherwise the speech engine would pick a single default pronunciation for both senses.
| Pronunciation | Part of speech | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| REF-yoos | noun | trash or waste |
| rih-FYOOZ | verb | to decline or say no |
English tends to put the stress at the front for the noun and at the back for the verb. Once you notice it, dozens of words follow the same rule — see word stress rules in English.
"Refuse" is pronounced two ways depending on whether it is a noun or a verb. As a noun it is REF-yoos, with the stress on the first syllable; as a verb it is rih-FYOOZ, with the stress on the second. The spelling never changes — only which syllable you emphasise.
The noun stresses the first syllable (REF-yoos) and the verb stresses the second (rih-FYOOZ). This front-stress-for-nouns, back-stress-for-verbs pattern covers dozens of common English word pairs.
No. "refuse" is spelled identically in both cases — only the stressed syllable moves, which is why the two forms sound different when spoken but look the same when written.
See the full entry for “refuse”, browse all 76 heteronyms and stress pairs, or learn how English stress works.