Which to use
“refutation” and “regulation” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,141
- “refutation” frequency rank
- #3,781
- “regulation” frequency rank
- 49922
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | refutation | regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An act of refuting or disproving; the disproving of an argument, opinion, testimony, doctrine or theory by argument or countervailing proof; evidence of falseness. | The act of regulating or the condition of being regulated. |
Where the eye mixes refutation and regulation
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses refutation with regulation
A purely visual mix-up. refutation (/ˌɹɛf.jʊˈteɪ.ʃən/) and regulation (/ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/) 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 49922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
refutation is recorded at frequency rank #46,141, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌɹɛf.jʊˈteɪ.ʃən/. regulation is at rank #3,781, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/.
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 49922, this pair ranks #179,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of refutation vs regulation
Shared letters: aeinortu. Private to "refutation": f. Private to "regulation": gl.
"refutation" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC · "regulation" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- refutation ← erfutation · reffutation · reftuation · refuattion · refutaiton · refutasion · refutatino · refutationn
- regulation ← ergulation · reggulation · regluation · regualtion · regulaiton · regulasion · regulatino · regulationn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "refutation" for "regulation" ever safe?
Which is more common, "refutation" or "regulation"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "refutation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "regulation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "refutation" and "regulation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recitation vs refutation". 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 #179,017 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.