ReglavsriegaTell them apart

Quick tell: Regla is a name, riega is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Regla” is a name and “riega” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,632
“Regla” frequency rank
#42,134
“riega” frequency rank
44766
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Regla riega
Definition Nombre de una constelación austral, inicialmente llamada Norma et Regula. Está situada al sur del Escorpión y entre las constelaciones del Lobo, el Compás (Circinum), el Triángulo Austral y el Altar (Ara). Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de regar o de regarse.

Where the eye mixes Regla and riega

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Regla
5 ch
riega

Visual trap between Regla and riega

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Regla is [ˈreɣ̞la] while riega is [ˈrjeɣ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Regla is recorded at frequency rank #2,632, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈreɣ̞la]. riega is at rank #42,134, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈrjeɣ̞a].

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 44766, this pair ranks #135,243 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Regla vs riega

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "Regla": l. Private to "riega": i.

"Regla" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "riega" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Reglaergla · regal · reggla · reglla · relga · rgela · rregla
  • riegairega · reiga · rieag · riegga · rigea · rriega

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Regla" and "riega" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Regla" is a name and "riega" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Regla" vs "riega" - which ranks higher?
"Regla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,632 in our Spanish list, against #42,134 for "riega". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Regla" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "riega" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,243 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Regla" and "riega" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "riba vs riega". 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 #135,243 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list