Which to use
“regained” and “remained” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,256
- “regained” frequency rank
- #2,403
- “remained” frequency rank
- 17659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | regained | remained |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of regain | simple past and past participle of remain |
Where the eye mixes regained and remained
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: regained vs remained
A purely visual mix-up. regained (/ɹiːˈɡeɪnd/) and remained (/ɹɪˈmeɪnd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - g in “regained” becomes m in “remained”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
regained is recorded at frequency rank #15,256, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹiːˈɡeɪnd/. remained is at rank #2,403, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈmeɪnd/.
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 17659, this pair ranks #450,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of regained vs remained
Shared letters: adeinr. Private to "regained": g. Private to "remained": m.
"regained" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "remained" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "regained" and "remained" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "regained" vs "remained" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "regained" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "remained" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #450,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "regained" and "remained" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "remained vs romaine". 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 #450,000 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.