regvsrowWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“reg” and “row” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,592
“reg” frequency rank
#2,498
“row” frequency rank
14090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reg row
Definition A regular. A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden, etc.

Where the eye mixes reg and row

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
reg
3 ch
row

Why the eye confuses reg with row

A purely visual mix-up. reg (/ɹɛd͡ʒ/) and row (/ˈɹəʊ/) 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 14090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reg is recorded at frequency rank #11,592, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɛd͡ʒ/. row is at rank #2,498, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹəʊ/.

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 14090, this pair ranks #472,109 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reg vs row

Shared letters: r. Private to "reg": eg. Private to "row": ow.

"reg" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "row" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reg" for "row" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɛd͡ʒ/ versus /ˈɹəʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "reg" vs "row" - which ranks higher?
"row" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,498 in our English list, against #11,592 for "reg". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "reg" and "row" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "row" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #472,109 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reg" and "row" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reg vs Rua". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #472,109 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list